Genii Weblog

Free Midas software plus a contest

Wed 2 Jun 2010, 01:43 PM



by Ben Langhinrichs
Today, Genii Software is releasing a new product, @Midas Lookups, which will be free for use by anyone in the community.  (Those who have been watching Genii Software for a few years will recognize this product as an updated subset of the @Midas Formulas.)  The product is available today for Windows 32-bit and Windows 64-bit, and we anticipate release of support for AIX and Linux within about a week.

@Midas Lookups allow the developer to treat rich text data as tabular data, accessible just as views are using @DbColumn and @DbLookup.  There is no registration, just a free download, although we would love to hear stories about how you use the product.  See the help, download the software and download a sample database, all on one page:  @Midas Lookups.

In addition, we are having a contest during the month of June to see who can come up with the most creative and useful formulas or applications.  Details of the contest will be posted later today, but download a copy and start thinking about how you could use this functionality in computed text on a webpage, in an action formula, in validation of rich text, used with @Do and @Transform, in xPages, etc.  Valuable and unique prizes for the top three ideas.  But first, you need the software.

As a reminder, there is no official support provided.  If you company needs official support, let me know and I'll see what we can arrange (on a paid basis, obviously).  Otherwise, go forth and enjoy.

Copyright © 2010 Genii Software Ltd.

What has been said:


903.1. Jerry Carter (06/02/2010 08:21 PM)

Congratulations on your release, Ben. The 'free sample' is a time honored institution of capitalism. :-) May it reap the intended benefits for you and the community.


903.2. Richard Schwartz (06/02/2010 08:33 PM)

Does the key matching assume the the KeyColumn(+chunk) is a sorted list of values?


903.3. Ben Langhinrichs (06/02/2010 09:01 PM)

Jerry - Thanks!

Richard - By default it does not, since ad hoc data is so often... ad hoc, and since any one table can have at most 255 rows. There may be a property setting which can turn the aware of sorting back on. Let me know if you want that, as the engine certainly supports it.


903.4. Richard Schwartz (06/02/2010 09:36 PM)

Actually, I think it is preferable that it does not assume sorting, so don't add a property setting on my account!

Next question: since it does not assume sorting, am I correct in assuming that multiple matches will be found, even if separated by non-matching rows?


903.5. Ben Langhinrichs (06/02/2010 10:06 PM)

That is correct. It returns a value from each row that matches. For example, in the Currency fluctuation table from the sample db, you have two tables with dates in the format mm/dd/yyyy in the first column, and a conversion rate between US dollars and the Euro in the second column. If you want to get the average rate for the 13th of each month (06/13/2009, 07/13/2009 all the way to 05/13/2010), you would use the following formula (two @DbLookups because there are two tables):

rates := @DbLookup("Midas":"NoCache"; ""; @DocumentUniqueID; "Body":"Inside Table 1; Table 1"; "/13/"; 2; "Format=Number KeyMatch=SUBSTR"):@DbLookup("Midas":"NoCache"; ""; @DocumentUniqueID; "Body":"Inside Table 1; Table 2"; "/13/"; 2; "Format=Number KeyMatch=SUBSTR");

avg := @Sum(rates)/@Elements(rates);


903.6. Ulrich Krause (03.06.2010 05:02)

Hint: the sample database is encrypted ...


903.7. Ben Langhinrichs (06/03/2010 12:47 PM)

Sorry about the encryption. I had a small problem, fixed it and accidentally put up the encrypted version. Will fix in about half an hour.


903.8. Ben Langhinrichs (06/03/2010 02:27 PM)

Should be fixed now.


903.9. Ulrich Krause (04.06.2010 05:35)

How do I get a list of valid "chunkdefs"? Table or Bullet are in the sample. What about others?