4GL Patterns #12 – Deploying Reference Tables

Coda Server uses a concept called Reference Tables. I first heard the term used by Ken Downs.

The interesting twist brought by Coda Server is in deployability.

In the countries table, … use the REF TABLE .. Ref tables are identical to regular tables, except that they are replicated automatically across the development, testing, and production environments. Any rows added, updated or deleted in those environments immediately percolate to all of the others. This is perfect for data such as countries which generally don’t change based on your application’s whims.