Feature Data Objects Provider for SDF

The Feature Data Objects (FDO) API provides access to data in a data store. A provider is a specific implementation of the FDO API that provides access to data in a particular data store. The FDO Provider for SDF is a standalone file format that supports GIS data.

The FDO Provider for SDF uses Autodesk's spatial database format, which is a file-based personal geo-database that supports multiple features/attributes, spatial indexing, interoperability, file-locking, and high performance for large data sets.

The SDF file format has the following characteristics:

  • The SDF file has its own spatial indexing.
  • SDF files can store geometric and non-geometric data with minimum overhead.
  • Although it does not support concurrency control (locking), the SDF file format is a valid alternative to RDBMS.

The FDO Provider for SDF can run in a multi-platform environment, including Windows and Linux.

Connecting to the SDF Provider

This information supplements the Establishing a Connection chapter in the FDO Developers Guide.

You can connect to FDO Provider for SDF by specifying the the name of SDF File to which the connection will be made.

Optionally, you may also specify that the SDF file be opened as ReadOnly. Valid values are TRUE and FALSE.