> The following was supposedly scribed by > Bruno Postle > on Tuesday 24 June 2003 06:22 am: >What problems are you trying to solve with a database? > simultaneous access by multiple programs and data association >CAD information doesn't appear to be a good fit; drawings are >generally made up of quite complex nested object information - This >kind of data is hard to cram into a relational database. > Yes, some of it would be but the relationships between entities would be well-served by it. >A relational database is good for fast searches and random access to >data - Neither of which are going to be particularly useful here. No, this is exactly what I need for this kind of project. Lots of people have to access the data for many different things (material take-off, detailing, production, shipping, tracking, billing) so making it available allows me to spend more time on the production process and less time helping other people do their job. Currently, we are using a dwg file for storage of most of the data (mostly geometry, but also some controlling data) and it is all very highly organized (4500 layers). In addition, I've got about 60 config files involved. If anyone else can access these without asking me where they are or what they mean (%length = ("attachment" => 60, etc...) then we will all save a lot of time. --Eric