MANUAL.md

##Quick set-up

I sincerely apologise for the lack of information in here. Will expand on it soon.

Step 1. Enter data into the database. Step 2. In your python code import jdf_lib and use the built-in function load_database()

Run the code below to see how the jdf_lib works. Make sure to have jdf_lib.py and sample_data.jdf in the same folder, for the example to work.

###Sample code ####you can find this code in the JDFeditor/sample_data/sample_code.py

import jdf_lib

my_data_variable = jdf_lib.load_database('sample_data.jdf')
if my_data_variable == -1:
    print 'load error'
else:
    print my_data_variable[0]
    print my_data_variable[1]
    print my_data_variable[2]
raw_input('press enter')

###Explanation

jdf_lib.load_database() function takes one argument: the file name or the file path. If the file is successfully loaded the data will be returned. In the above example the returned data is placed in my_data_variable.

Index 0 of my_data_variable holds the types of columns in the database. Index 1 of my_data_variable holds the names of columns in the database. Index 2 of my_data_variable holds the actual values of the database. -> Therefore, every index of my_data_variable[2] is an every row of the database. ---> Consequently, every index of my_data_variable[2][row] is an every column of the database.

If you are concerned by the content of the database only, a good practice is to make a variable that holds the information of the third index:

my_database = my_data_variable[2]

the following would print then the value of row 2 and column 1:

print my_database[2][1]

Which in the case of sample_data.jdf is the value: 1460 Remember that indexing starts at 0, not 1.