ConceptBase is organized in a client/server architecture. The server manages the database while the client may be any user-defined application program. A graphical client CBIva and a command-line client CBShell are distributed with the ConceptBase system. We use in this tutorial the grahical client. The communication between server and client is realized via Internet protocols, i.e. client and server can run on different computers in your local network or even ob the global Internet. They can also run on the same computer, which is the most frequent way of use. The connection is offered by the ConceptBase server via a so-called port number. Every database is stored in a seperate directory with the name of the database as directory name.
Before working with this tutorial ConceptBase has to be installed properly. This is documented in the installation guide which is available from the site where you downloaded the system, typically http://conceptbase.sourceforge.net/CB-Download.html.
2017-08-25: This step can be skipped with the current version of ConceptBase because
the user interface now automatically connects to a ConceptBase server (CBserver).
If it does not find a server, it tries to start it up on the fly.
So, in most cases you do not need to bother with starting up a CBserver.
Still, it is possible to start up a CBserver seperately and then start the
user interface and connect to it.
We assume that you are running either Linux or Windows 10 with the Linux sub-system.
At first start a ConceptBase server:
Exercise 2.1:
cd $CB_HOME
cbserver -help
The string $CB_HOME has to be replaced by the directory path, into which ConceptBase was installed on your local computer. You may want to include this directory path into the search path of your command shell.
A server will start running immediately. If the database TutDB
doesn’t exist, a new database will be created before loading. Then
the copyright notice and parameter settings are displayed, followed
by a message which contains hostname and port number of the ConceptBase
server you have just started. These two informations are used to
identify a server. The host is the one, you are currently logged on to
and the port number is set by the -port parameter. The port number
must be free on the host where ConceptBase shall run.
If this number is already in use by another server, the error message
IPC Error: Unable to bind socket to name
appears and the server stops.
In this case restart the server with another port number.
Clients can communicate with a server through the ConceptBase Usage Environment. The interface contains several tools which can be invoked from the CBIva (ConceptBase User Interface in Java). Start CBIva by entering the following commands in a new command window:
cd $CB_HOME
cbiva
You may also double-click the file cbiva (or cbiva.bat) in the ConceptBase installation directory.
After a few seconds a window will appear which
is titled “CBIva - ConceptBase User Interface in Java”. It consists of a main window, statusline
at the left buttom, and offers several function keys and menu-items. A complete description of
these menus is given in the User Manual. Depending on your operating system, you can also
double-click the file ’cbiva’ (resp. ’cbiva.bat’) in the installation directory of ConceptBase.
Exercise 2.2:
Establish a connection between CBIva and
the server you have started under 2.1
2017-08-25: You can skip this step because your CBIva window automatically connects to a CBserver.
After the connection is established the first field of the statusline contains the status "connected".