A provider-independent text file format has been adopted for long-term archiving of backup data and easy transfer of data between WRDB users. A tab-delimited ASCII text format was adopted with the first row having the WRDB field names. The text files are named the same as the tables, but with the extention .TXT.
Text files are not nearly as compact as binary files, however they have many advantages:
when compressed into zip files they are acceptably small, and disk storage space is not nearly as expensive as it once was.
when your project files are backed up in this format, you can be assured that they can be read decades in the future, perhaps after any particular data provider format is no longer supported by the developer.
although server-type databases (e.g., SQL Server and Oracle) can certainly be backed by the database administrator (DBA), it is not convenient for end-users to obtain the backup files (or restore them).
import and export routines have been carefully designed to have very high performance.
this text file format can be read by almost any spreadsheet or database program available on the market. Even if the recipient doesn't have WRDB, he will be able to use the data.
it is not necessary to backup other database objects, such as indices, relations, views, or procedures, as WRDB dynamically creates them for you.
WRDB supports so many different data providers, it will not be uncommon for users in one organization or work group to use one provider (say, Oracle because they have an Oracle server available), and others to use a different one (perhaps a single user will just use SQLite which is fast, small, and requires no server setup). It is easy for these users to transfer data back and forth.
Provider-independent text files are automatically created whenever you export data to text files or archive your data.
