# Kirbybase problem

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/kirbybase-problem/132846>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [March 25, 2008, 9:35am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/kirbybase-problem/132846 "2008-03-25T09:35:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tbcox23)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 9:35am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/kirbybase-problem/132846/1 "2008-03-25T09:35:54Z")

</div>

Jamey,

After a very long wait, I’m finally diving into the Kirbybase gem.

My problem is that I’m trying to create a table, following very  
carefully the example given in the quite nice documentation (!), and  
it’s not working for me, and I cannot see the problem. The code  
(stripped to essentials):

def main

%w(rubygems logger kirbybase yaml).each{ |lib| require lib }  
db = KirbyBase.new(:local, nil, nil, ‘./’, ‘.tbl’, ‘./’, true) #  
requests that table indexes be created NOT when table is r  
ead in but when it is first referenced

# create tables

```
newsitems = db.create_table( :datestr, {:DataType=>:String,

```

:Required=\>true, :Index=\>1})

# insert some data \<= _interpreter never got to this_

```
newsitems.insert( '2008.03.25a', 'First Title', 'First URL', false,

```

‘This is an extended summary of the news item.’ )  
newsitems.insert( ‘2008.03.25b’, ‘Second Title’, ‘Second URL’,  
false, ‘This is another extended summary of the  
news item.’ )

end

This produced:

$ ruby kirbyaml.rb  
/var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/KirbyBase-2.6/lib/kirbybase.rb:566:in  
`create_table': Must have a field type for each field name (RuntimeError) from kirbyaml.rb:31:in`main’  
from kirbyaml.rb:42

Originally, I had several variables in the table, but reduced this to  
one to try to find the error, and failed. I simply don’t see it.

Reduced further, to this -

newsitems = db.create\_table( :datestr, :String )

the same error is produced.

Can anyone give me a clue as to the problem?

Thanks,

Tom

–

```auto
Tom C.
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tbcox23)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 11:03am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/kirbybase-problem/132846/2 "2008-03-25T11:03:19Z")

</div>

Tom C. wrote:

> newsitems.insert( ‘2008.03.25a’, ‘First Title’, ‘First URL’, false,  
> from kirbyaml.rb:31:in `main’
> 
> Can anyone give me a clue as to the problem?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Tom

Sorry - didn’t provide context -  
Running KirbyBase 2.6 and Ruby 1.8.6 on Kubuntu Linux 7.10  
t.

–

```auto
Tom C., MS MA, LMHC
Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
<< removed_email_address@domain.invalid >> (email)
<< TomCloyd.com >> (website & psychotherapy weblog)
<< sleightmind.wordpress.com >> (mental health issues weblog)
<< directpathdesign.com >> (web site design & consultation)

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tbcox23)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 1:11pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/kirbybase-problem/132846/3 "2008-03-25T13:11:55Z")

</div>

Tom, you need to specify the table name when creating a table, i.e.:

newsitems = db.create\_table(:news\_items, :datestr, :String)

The symbol above, :news\_items, will cause KB to create the table in a  
physical file called news\_items.tbl.

HTH,

Jamey

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tbcox23)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 4:40am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/kirbybase-problem/132846/4 "2008-03-26T04:40:12Z")

</div>

Glad I could help!

Jamey

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tbcox23)\
**Post date:** [March 25, 2008, 7:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/kirbybase-problem/132846/5 "2008-03-25T19:50:31Z")

</div>

Jamey,  
Thanks so much for your prompt and helpful reply. I KNEW it has to be  
something very basic which I didn’t understand. I appear to have misread  
the documentation. To wit:

plane\_tbl = db.create\_table(:plane, :name, :String, :country, :String,  
:role, :String, :speed, :Integer, :range, :Integer, :began\_service,  
:Date,  
:still\_flying, :Boolean)

In this code, I saw ‘plane\_tbl’ as the probable table name (although I  
realize that most immediately it is something else) - assuming that this  
would be used by KirbyBase to open a file of that name. A complete  
misread.

:plane, :name, :String,

This appeared to be a listing of two variable names (table columns),  
followed by their type. Wrong!

OK, so now I’m headed the right direction.

I’ve been wanting for quite some time to work with KirbyBase, and I  
think I finally have a real need for it. Looking through the very nice  
documentation you have prepared, I feel real admiration for the work you  
have done. This all looks awfully well thought out and executed. And I’m  
going to study the code to further my learning in Ruby. Thanks for all  
your work.

I will (probably) be using this to manage a database of news item  
summaries for stories with mental health topics, which database will be  
used to generate html pages for my professional website. I wanted to be  
able to edit directly in the db, if possible, and KB allows me to do  
this. Terrific.

Thanks again for your speedy help. Much appreciated. I’m very eager to  
dive into KirbyBase.

Tom

Jamey C. wrote:

> > My problem is that I’m trying to create a table, following very
> > 
> > Originally, I had several variables in the table, but reduced this to  
> > Thanks,

–

```auto
Tom C., MS MA, LMHC
Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
<< removed_email_address@domain.invalid >> (email)
<< TomCloyd.com >> (website & psychotherapy weblog)
<< sleightmind.wordpress.com >> (mental health issues weblog)
<< directpathdesign.com >> (web site design & consultation)

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/t/b9bd4f/32.png) [@tbcox23](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/tbcox23)\
**Post date:** [March 26, 2008, 5:58am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/kirbybase-problem/132846/6 "2008-03-26T05:58:44Z")

</div>

From: Tom C. [[mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)]

# I wanted to be able to edit directly in the db, if possible,

# and KB allows me to do this. Terrific.

that’s the beauty there (as exemplified by kirbybase), all you need is  
ruby and you’re good to go.