Multiple Database Tables

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## Multiple Database Tables

MiniVend can manage an unlimited number of arbitrary database tables. They use the TAB delimiter by default, but several flexible delimiter schemes are available. These are defined by default:

        Type 1      DEFAULT - uses default TAB delimiter
        Type 2      LINE
                    Each field on its own line, a blank line
                    separates the record. Watch those carriage
                    returns! Also has a special format when CONTINUE
                    is set to be NOTES.
        Type 3      %%
                    Fields separated by a \n%%\n combination, records by
                    \n%%%\n (where \n is a newline). Watch those carriage
                    returns!
        Type 4      CSV
        Type 5      PIPE
        Type 6      TAB
        Type 7      reserved
        Type 8      SQL

The databases are specified in Database directives, as:

        Database    arbitrary arbitrary.csv CSV

That specifies a type 4 database, the ASCII version of which is located in the file arbitrary.csv, and the identifier it will be accessed under in MiniVend is ``Arbitrary''. The DBM file, if any, will be created in the same directory if the ASCII file is newer, or if the DBM file does not exist. The files will be created as arbitrary.db or arbitrary.gdbm, depending on DBM type.

The `identifier` is case sensitive, and can only contain characters in the class [A-Za-z0-9_]. Fields are accessed with the [item_data `identifier` field] or [data `identifier` field key] elements.

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