PRESS RELEASES
PRESS RELEASES

Mac OS X Application allows Easily Scripted Control of FrontBase™ DataBase

Los Angeles, March 12, 2002: FrontBase, Inc. is proud to announce FBScriptAgent, a new application running under Mac OS X that would provide scriptable control to their best-in-class database software, FrontBase™ Relational Database Server 3.5. Utilizing AppleScript, Apple Computer’s built-in scripting language in the Mac OS X operating system, FBScriptAgent is offered at no additional charge as an enhancement to the FrontBase product.

"We see the functionality of FBScriptAgent is a breakthrough for Mac OS X and AppleScript.", says Kevin Doyle, President of FrontBase, Inc. "FrontBase is 100% committed to serving the enterprise growth of Mac OS X. We see Steve Jobs#8217; "digital hub" strategy as benefiting greatly from having an enterprise-level database engine easily accessible to any Mac OS X user or application that talks AppleScript. FBScriptAgent offers Mac OS X users and developers heretofore unheard of database control and connectivity, all with the simplicity of and ease-of-use of AppleScript".

FBScriptAgent is a "scriptable" application which forwards commands to the FrontBase database. In addition to sending raw SQL commands, FBScriptAgent can start, stop, create, and delete FrontBase databases. FBScriptAgent exposes a great deal of database functionality that has previously only been available through more complex database client libraries. A user can now access the powerful features of FrontBase simply by keying in a few AppleScript commands.

A clever design aspect of FBScriptAgent is that it allows the scripter to deal with meta-data and data-handlers. For example, if a database fetch were to select 1,000,000 records, this would be difficult for most applications to deal with if all the records were returned. Instead, FBScriptAgent fetches return a meta-data object by which a user can determine how many records were selected, any errors or warnings generated by the select, the execution time, the column names, etc. The meta-data also includes a fetch "handle", which may used to actually fetch the rows, in batches if required. A hallmark of the intelligent engineering of FBScriptAgent is how easily it allows a user to work with massive amounts of data.

The application, with documentation and examples, is posted at: FBScriptAgent

FrontBase Database Server was conceived in Denmark in early 1996 using design criteria borne of existing databases#8217; limitations, and the possibilities that could only be achieved with today's technology, to answer the needs of the Internet age. The requirements of today are very different technically from the client server architecture of years past. The designers decided on ANSI C for cross platform purposes, using true Unicode in the core architecture for international character sets ensuring easy localization in the global marketplace, and the latest standard of SQL, SQL 92 on the 3rd level. The resulting product is technically incomparable with anything that was designed before the Internet age.

Scalability is a hallmark of the FrontBase product. It is equally capable on a personal laptop or a terabyte cluster of multiple machines, offering a level of scalable operation unequalled by any other product in its price class.

No other database product on earth is capable of true zero downtime in an e-commerce operation. FrontBase#8217;s exclusive, patented technology requires no time-consuming database rebuilds in the event of a system crash or power outage. Simply restart the server and FrontBase is immediately accessible and your data is unchanged and unharmed. FrontBase is fully compliant with the latest SQL standard. FrontBase is cross platform for Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, FreeBSD, and Windows NT/2000.

FrontBase, Inc. is a privately held, multinational company with facilities in Copenhagen, London, Boston, Seattle and Corporate Headquarters in Los Angeles. FrontBase is fast becoming known as a technological leader in the database industry by providing unique and demonstrable innovations, and through a commitment to exceptional service.

AppleScript is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. All rights reserved.