Track Magic Frequently Asked Questions

How does Track Magic work behind the scenes?

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Track Magic Pro and Track Magic Lite are implemented using Panorama (ProVUE Development’s ultra-fast RAM based database engine, see below) and Ruby. For high performance Track Magic Pro uses Panorama to keep a mirrored RAM based copy of the Rails tables you want to work with. Changes made to the RAM based mirror are automatically uploaded back to the SQL server thru Active Record. By using a RAM based mirror Track Magic facilitates advanced high speed searching, rapid “en masse” data modifications, and powerful analysis/reporting tools including cross tabulation and interactive data outlines. The diagram below illustrates how Panorama and Track Magic interact with your Ruby on Rails applications.

Panorama and Track Magic are bundled together so you get both in one download and at one low price.

What is Panorama?

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Panorama is a powerful RAM based database for storing, organizing and analyzing information. Since 1988 Panorama has been in use all over the world for everything from custom accounting to medical research, from church directories to college track meets. Panorama's unique RAM based technology makes it the fastest and most flexible database on the market.

When writing Panorama, ProVUE engineers decided to rethink the fundamental disk based database technology that had been in use since the 1960's. Other database programs rely on your computer's relatively slow hard drive instead of the nanosecond access time RAM chips on your motherboard. That means these programs can't take full advantage of the tremendous increases in processor speed and RAM capacity over the past decades.

Panorama uses a completely different RAM based approach. The slow hard drive is used only for saving. All searching, sorting and data manipulation is done directly in the computer's high speed RAM. The result is pure blazing speed -- you'll think your data has broken the sound barrier! Even better, Panorama's highly efficient storage algorithims can pack over 100,000 records in less than 10 megabytes.

• RAM based for super fast searching, sorting and data manipulation.
• Easy to learn and use.
• High speed import/export of text, HTML, QIF, QFX OFX and Excel files.
• Built-in connectivity.
• Powerful data analysis tools (including live data outlines, crosstabs, charts, and statistics).
• Super fast bulk data modification.
• Fully relational links between databases.
• Specialized graphics tools for on screen forms & printed reports.
• Fully programmable, including a powerful programming language, a complete suite of development tools and access to AppleScript, UNIX shell scripts, Perl, Ruby, Python and PHP.
• Seamless cross platform operation lets you develop and deploy on both PC and Mac systems.
• Built-in security.

For more information about Panorama please visit the ProVUE web site.

What is the difference between Track Magic Lite and Track Magic Pro?

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Track Magic Lite, which is completely free, provides a graphical user interface for Rake. This allows you to create Rails applications and tables, set up and modify table structure, manage hosts, freeze and unfreeze, perform migrations, and generally set up and maintain the structure of Rails databases.

Track Magic Pro includes all the features of Track Magic Lite, and adds the ability to directly view, modify, analyze and print the data in your Rails databases. Track Magic Pro is based on and is included with our award winning Panorama RAM based database software. You can try Track Magic Pro for 30 days by downloading and using the coupon code TRACKMAGIC9602.

Can I print mailing labels and reports with Track Magic?

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Yes. Using Panorama's graphical editing tools you can create virtually any kind of label, form or report. It's never been this easy to get Rails data onto a printed page or PDF file.

If I'm using MySQL, do I need to create databases manually?

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If you have the access privileges on the server, Track Magic will automatically create SQL databases for you when you create a new application (you can choose what environments you want to create). You can also set up the SQL databases manually (or have them set up for you by an administrator).

How does Track Magic know what hosts are available?

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Track Magic scans your existing Rails Applications and builds a list of all the hosts you have used. You can give each host a name and then quickly set up any new applications you create to use an existing host. You can also set up new hosts with a simple dialog.

Does Track Magic work with the development, test or production environment?

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It can work with any of these. The Local Database Options dialog allows you to specify what environment you want to work with on a table by table basis.

Can a Rails application created with Track Magic be used on a machine that does not have Track Magic installed.

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Absolutely. Track Magic simply provides a GUI interface for standard Rake commands, the resulting application is exactly the same as if you had built it with the command line.

Can Track Magic modify data while a Rails application is running live on the web?

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Yes, but there is no record locking, so there is a possibility of conflict. Track Magic is not intended to replace the web interface of your Rails application, but to supplement it. It is primarily designed to assist with development, maintenance, and reporting tasks, not as an operational tool. For example, Track Magic makes it easy to import legacy data from other databases into Rails, and to maintain databases that don't need to be modified online (for example price lists, catalogs, and reference material). It's also ideal for data analysis and reporting.

If you want, you can configure Track Magic to disable modification on a table by table basis. This allows Track Magic to be used to analyze and report without any possibility of data modification thru the Track Magic interface.

Will I need to modify my Rails application to work with Track Magic?

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No, and Track Magic does not modify your application in any way.

Will Track Magic work with SQLite? MySQL? Oracle? ...

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Yes, Track Magic will work with any database that has an ActiveRecord adapter on your system.

Will my existing Rails applications work with Track Magic?

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Yes, if they are written with Rails 2.0 or later.

What are the minimum system requirements for Track Magic?

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Track Magic requires OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or later, and requires Rails 2.0 or later.