Database for a Desktop?

[Renegade]

Well, I'm in my neurotic "must do things differently again" state, and must find a new way to do a client database.

Well, that and this. It's more than I feel like forking out for an upgrade... Though they do offer discounts for mISVs... But, oh well... Might as well learn something new...

I've not use SQLite before (in .NET that is), and was wondering if anyone had any opinions on these:

http://code.google.com/p/csharp-sqlite/ (Supports 3.7.5)

http://sqlite.phxsoftware.com/ (Supports 3.6.23)

Or is there anything else that I should work with?

My most important thing is ease -- I do not want to fight with a database. It needs to be easy to get working. I'm only going to be storing simple data and not doing anything funky, so my requirements are pretty low.

I could do it in flat files or XML, but I'm trying to anticipate growth for larger data sets later on. Beside, I hate flat files. And while XML is cool, one needs to be intelligent about where to use it.

So, opinions?

Commercial DBs are ok too if they are well supported, easy, and affordable.

[Ath]

Looking at SQLite, have you investigated the SQLite endorsed ADO.Net provider?

I especially like the headline message on the site:

This is a fork of the popular ADO.NET 2.0 adaptor for SQLite known as System.Data.SQLite. The originator of System.Data.SQLite, Robert Simpson, is aware of this fork, has expressed his approval, and has commit privileges on the new Fossil repository. The SQLite development team intends to maintain System.Data.SQLite moving forward.

(Emphasis added)

The phxsoftware.com's version seems to have stopped progressing

[wraith808]

Looking at SQLite, have you investigated the SQLite endorsed ADO.Net provider?

I especially like the headline message on the site:

This is a fork of the popular ADO.NET 2.0 adaptor for SQLite known as System.Data.SQLite. The originator of System.Data.SQLite, Robert Simpson, is aware of this fork, has expressed his approval, and has commit privileges on the new Fossil repository. The SQLite development team intends to maintain System.Data.SQLite moving forward.

(Emphasis added)

I wanted to try that... but the last time I installed it, it borked my vs installation.  I found the problem in a source file that they changed, but that was quite troubling and not something I wanted to experience again.

[Renegade]

Looking at SQLite, have you investigated the SQLite endorsed ADO.Net provider?

I especially like the headline message on the site:

This is a fork of the popular ADO.NET 2.0 adaptor for SQLite known as System.Data.SQLite. The originator of System.Data.SQLite, Robert Simpson, is aware of this fork, has expressed his approval, and has commit privileges on the new Fossil repository. The SQLite development team intends to maintain System.Data.SQLite moving forward.

(Emphasis added)

The phxsoftware.com's version seems to have stopped progressing

Excellent!

I was looking at so many different things that I missed that.

Ok -- so far that's at the top of my list. I'll need to do more investigation, but it's looking good.

Thanks.

[Stoic Joker]

I've had really good luck using MySQL for all sorts of things, and it's quite easy to include in a C++ project. I give each app instance a single session and keep it alive via heart beats. It's simple, well documented, free, and quite fast...What's not to like?

[kfitting]

This may be completely off topic from where you were intending, but here is a blog by someone using Excel, SQLite, and Python.  He's doing some pretty interesting stuff, it may give you some ideas.

http://blog.gobansaor.com/

[Renegade]

Well, time has won out. I've abandoned SQLite.

I'm working on other things and I've gone back to VistaDB.

I'm simply rusty on some CRUD stuff in .NET, and I don't want to spend any more time on it than I have to.

Laziness and time pressure wins.

That being said, VistaDB is WAAAAAYYYYY better than SQLite... There's no comparison. Broken skateboard and space shuttle.

[wraith808]

That being said, VistaDB is WAAAAAYYYYY better than SQLite... There's no comparison. Broken skateboard and space shuttle.

At $1295 for a license, I should hope so...?

[Renegade]

That being said, VistaDB is WAAAAAYYYYY better than SQLite... There's no comparison. Broken skateboard and space shuttle.

At $1295 for a license, I should hope so...?

Well, I didn't pay that. I've had a license for a long time, so I only had to maintain it with 'upgrade protection', which expired last week. For the next year => $300.00 -- Which is fine. I like to support good software that I like. It's a fantastic product, and for mISVs (that would be many of the people here), you can get it for much less than $1295. They have a mISV program. Face it, $1,295 is jack all for a company for a product of that caliber, but for a 1-man-band, it's a big chunk of change. Again, their licensing policy is fair and helpful, which only makes me more prone to keep with the upgrades.

But yeah... you definitely get what you pay for.

Integer, None, Text, Real, and Numeric just make me cringe. I like my DateTime and Bit types (amongst others).

It basically makes me feel dirty to store a datetime in a text field. Ick... So I'm not too broken up about abandoning SQLite. I've used it in a mobile SDK for testing, but the SDK was very kind and hid all that nasty dirtiness.

[wraith808]

Unfortunately, unless the 'much less' is $300 or less, I'll have to do without.  The perils of full time employment vs contracting.  When I was contracting, money wasn't really an object for development tools.  Now, doing it on the side, it's a lot bigger obstacle, unfortunately.

[Renegade]

Unfortunately, unless the 'much less' is $300 or less, I'll have to do without.  The perils of full time employment vs contracting.  When I was contracting, money wasn't really an object for development tools.  Now, doing it on the side, it's a lot bigger obstacle, unfortunately.

Email them and see what they say. Point them back here maybe? Dunno... Worth a shot anyways. Maybe you can work out a deal.

[Deozaan]

hamradio pointed this one out to me yesterday in IRC. That said, I don't know anything about it or even if it will work for what you want.

http://grubba.net/

Grubba is the free and online alternative to MS Access and Filemaker Pro.
Choose a template or create your own forms and database to fit your individual needs.
Suitable for beginner and advanced users.

Grubba is so called Donationware. If you use Grubba and like it, you can make a (small) donation to support us.

[kyrathaba]

I'm interested to hear thoughts/experiences with Grubba, if anyone chooses to try it...

[40hz]

I'm interested to hear thoughts/experiences with Grubba, if anyone chooses to try it...

Looks like something that might be interesting for setting up a KB type database for a small group of users.

Does anybody know what fieldtypes are available in Grubba? The website isn't particularly helpful when it comes to specifics. And there doesn't seem to be a wiki or documentation available.

[Renegade]

The website isn't particularly helpful when it comes to specifics. And there doesn't seem to be a wiki or documentation available.

That's a deal killer a lot of the time. For me anyways.

I'd rather spend a few hundred dollars and get documentation and samples so that I can focus on getting things done, rather than spend a week or two trying to wrap my brain around something that may or may not be what I want/need.

For SDK and components, the product in many ways *IS* the documentation/samples.