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Free or Low Cost DB Manager app for SQLite?

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  • jkwrpc
    replied
    Re: Free or Low Cost DB Manager app for SQLite?

    Both have ODBC drivers, and FireBird has a .Net ADO provider. So it it should not be too hard.

    Leave a comment:


  • TPeterson
    replied
    Re: Free or Low Cost DB Manager app for SQLite?

    How much more difficult is it to connect Alpha to a database not listed in the connection string builder? I notice that Firebird and SQLite are not listed.

    Leave a comment:


  • jkwrpc
    replied
    Re: Free or Low Cost DB Manager app for SQLite?

    I have looked at Vista in the past. When it first came out it had a free version as I recall. Then they priced it too high as far as I was concerned. I will have to take another look. The more I look at FireBird the better I like it. Its embedded version is suitable for a single user desktop, then they have a multi-user version all of which are open source.

    Leave a comment:


  • SNusa
    replied
    Re: Free or Low Cost DB Manager app for SQLite?

    Originally posted by spudmurphy View Post
    For the desktop Vista DB looks like a decent fit given the .NET direction Alpha has embraced.
    http://www.vistadb.net/vistadb/default.aspx
    Whilst not cheap but not exorbitant at the same time once purchased the database engine can be distributed with the developers applications royalty free.
    As taken from the front page of their website: http://www.vistadb.net/vistadb/default.aspx

    Why spend your time trying to figure out which dlls to distribute based upon the target machine cpu? VistaDB has the best deployment scenario for any managed application - true xcopy deployment. You can just xcopy our engine alongside your application and run. Nothing to install, nothing to configure. A single assembly is all you need for both 32 and 64 bit runtimes on any .Net Framework from 2.0 SP1 to the latest .Net version
    Portable... They "get it." ~ I like their methodology at least. Too bad .Net wasn't also "drag & drop."

    Leave a comment:


  • spudmurphy
    replied
    Re: Free or Low Cost DB Manager app for SQLite?

    For the desktop Vista DB looks like a decent fit given the .NET direction Alpha has embraced.
    http://www.vistadb.net/vistadb/default.aspx
    Whilst not cheap but not exorbitant at the same time once purchased the database engine can be distributed with the developers applications royalty free.

    Andrew (today AKA Lola)

    Leave a comment:


  • DaveM
    replied
    Re: Free or Low Cost DB Manager app for SQLite?

    I don't know either, but see a lot of com objects mention in conjunction with win8. I am no expert on this.

    Leave a comment:


  • jkwrpc
    replied
    Re: Free or Low Cost DB Manager app for SQLite?

    I am not opposed to browser based desktop or intranet apps. I have built a number of them in .net and had no issues. They do have one advantage for both the developer and the customer. That is there is one copy of the application to support, update or deal with.

    I do recall the days before this occurred and that was a client server application that sat on an application server instead of a web server. It seems to me that properly designed a client-server app on the application server is not a whole lot different in function.

    I do find that any number of business operation no longer want anything but intranet apps for the desktop. They see it as a way to keep hardware costs and hardware support down, since all a pc needs to do is run a browser.

    From what I understand ActiveX controls represent COM objects. I am not sure there is much future for COM objects and many have been replaced with .Net objects. Perhaps the more technically literate could correct this if its iin error and add some clarity to the future of COM.

    Leave a comment:


  • SNusa
    replied
    Re: Free or Low Cost DB Manager app for SQLite?

    Originally posted by DaveM View Post
    .....Iphones and Ipads will soon play a larger part in my business(probably 2 years from now) and building so the iphone user can store the data on the phone until he can get to a connection is also a big deal..... Explain: sometimes a dealer buyer is out looking at 1 or more cars and needs to look up data with his phone or more likely input data to the server. No connection makes it hard.
    That's exactly the problem with a strictly speaking "web delivered application" - No offline mode, no offline code. (something I think Alpha has totally avoided "to be RAD, the Alpha way", which will in time will be realized by many as a significant deficiency) I believe it already is, but many just don't see this yet. The other thing I don't like whatsoever is desktop application's dependencies on a fully functioning AND a correctly configured web browser. This adds a ton of complexity and can cause many unexpected problems. Particularly when security and privacy is being controlled by the end users. Sure, this may eliminate the necessity of providing a "shell" (aka the desktop runtime) to run an application.... But IMO, this approach creates all sorts of other complexities and risk points of failure..... To me, it's not worth the risk....

    Different browsers (and versions of browsers) render (and run javascript etc.) differently... Ad then there are the dependencies and user plugins which can wreak havoc with anything a browser is "trying to display".... At least with a self contained program (which in Alpha's case requires the runtime) you have (had?) control. The more you rely on browser functions, the more chances you have for a broken "application." How many times have you had to try a different browser, because your preferred one doesn't render a pages properly? ~ Today, this issue goes well beyond things like ActiveX dependencies. One last MAJOR factor is how the industry aka Microsoft (and others) occasionally break online websites as a result of change......
    Very recently (and for quite some time), I couldn't figure out why one of my online banking websites wouldn't work with my "browser of choice." One bank, only one of them..... Well, I eventually realized that one single (fairly hidden & ambiguous) privacy/security setting from one extension was prohibiting it from working properly. The point is, I'm a fairly advanced (well, extremely advanced) Windows "user." For the life of me, this one issue rendered online banking on one site (due to funky client/server security) "undo-able" with the browser that I use for secure connections.

    In the past (about 10 years ago), I have worked with several other client/server web based "RAD" tools. At first, they seemed like the best thing since sliced bread. But after some time, I began to despise the browser related issues, dependencies (complexities and inconsistencies) ~ What originally appeared to be an attribute, quickly became a nuisance..... Regardless, the more "RAD" a tool becomes, the higher the likelihood that "developers" don't/won't have a clue as to why certain things work/don't work..... And that my friends is a major reason I have no interest in "browser based" solutions (dependencies) for the desktop! (This is also the reason I don't have any interest in desktop Grids as a replacement for a browse. MORE DEPENDENCIES ON MS/IE!)

    This is also arguably one major driving factor justifying Linux, Apple, and many Windows users who choose to use "portable apps." ~ Drag them into a folder, and if the OS works, so will the application..... (It's also one of the huge benefits IMHO, of an OS's like Apple OSX.) No registry dependencies to "muck things up." Consequently, it seems to me that: If one were ever contemplating developing an application designed to live within a "browser shell" they would do so using a third party browser (such as Firefox) that is designed to run 100% portable.

    Getting back "on track", (based upon what I have read): The primary relevance to having SQLite replace .DBF's within the "Alpha framework" would be: If Alphasoftware intended to provide "gadget" offline mode/offline code functionality/capabilities..... (aka native code) ~ Here, SQLite would be used to ONLY store temporarily data on the "gadget" during "offline mode." (Data that would be synced with a server based SQL such as MySQL, when a connection is re-established.) ~ That's where SQLite is most beneficial. And from what I understand, It's what it was essentially designed for. (Even though SQLite might be a viable alternative/suitable for many smaller web based solutions, it was not designed to be an "enterprise level replacement" for MS SQL, or MySQL.)
    Last edited by SNusa; 04-17-2013, 11:21 AM.

    Leave a comment:


  • DaveM
    replied
    Re: Free or Low Cost DB Manager app for SQLite?

    Gaby,

    I love dbf for desktop, but desktop is taking on a new deal anymore. I jus looked at a desktop application on a potential client's desktop and it is a web based system on his own server inhouse using mssql.

    I have a better tool than that one, but it seems to wake one up a bit. I will probably get that account(sale), but I now know I have to move on. It is concievable that the next client will want it on the web. A whole new door could be opening in the auto industry. I have to be ready for both. It would be a lot better if I have one that can go both ways. Iphones and Ipads will soon play a larger part in my business(probably 2 years from now) and building so the iphone user can store the data on the phone until he can get to a connection is also a big deal.

    Explain: sometimes a dealer buyer is out looking at 1 or more cars and needs to look up data with his phone or more likely input data to the server. No connection makes it hard.

    Leave a comment:


  • gaby_h
    replied
    Re: Free or Low Cost DB Manager app for SQLite?

    Originally posted by DaveM View Post
    move totally away from dbf - use mysql,nosql,mssql,etc
    Exactly the idea I put on the wishlist on Ideascale a year ago. The number of negative comments I got was astonishing. Sooner or later Alpha will have to let go of dbf.

    Leave a comment:


  • Peter.Greulich
    replied
    Re: Free or Low Cost DB Manager app for SQLite?

    Originally posted by Tom Cone Jr View Post
    I believe the authors of SQLite recommend AGAINST using it for applications where multiple users are entering, changing, and deleting records in the same database at or near the same time.

    Check this link for situations where another RDBM would be appropriate.
    Tom,

    I think you may be misunderstanding it? From the link you provided:
    Websites

    SQLite usually will work great as the database engine for low to medium traffic websites (which is to say, 99.9% of all websites). The amount of web traffic that SQLite can handle depends, of course, on how heavily the website uses its database. Generally speaking, any site that gets fewer than 100K hits/day should work fine with SQLite. The 100K hits/day figure is a conservative estimate, not a hard upper bound. SQLite has been demonstrated to work with 10 times that amount of traffic.
    So, if your site has less than 100,000 hits per day, you should be fine. But even 10X that amount may be okay too depending upon your configuration.

    Leave a comment:


  • SNusa
    replied
    Re: Free or Low Cost DB Manager app for SQLite?

    I think I can shed some light on SQLite concurrency...... (having recently done some research on Real Studio that integrates SLQLite in it's core product)

    SQLite seems to work for the web fine, because there is a server "ticking away" passing commands (which are executed extremely fast in a serial fashion, one after the other. Concurrent numerous users may be "in session", connected to the server, but the web server is spinning like spokes of a wheel and only one read/write access request is sent to SQLite at a time.)

    The problem on the desktop side is this: With multiple users simultaneously trying to read and write to a SQLite database (without a central server acting as a mediator as per say): Each successful access essentially locks out all other users to ALL the tables as each request is coming from a different location. (Essentially, as I understand it: This limitation, and even some "data integrity" concerns are largely due to OS limitations, and some OS's "hosting" SQLite databases fare far better than others because of this.) ~ Because a SQLite database is contained in one file, that means any one workstation writing to ANY one table completely locks ALL the tables to everyone else trying to access data, until the write is complete & the entire SQLite database (1 file) is "released." (Kind of a similar issue with .dbf's with the exception that each table is in a separate file.) ~ On a lan where a webserver was in place, presumably this would not be much of an issue either......

    SQLite seems ideal for "gadgets" who have an offline mode. But since there is absolutely no support for native code operating in "off-line" mode, SQLite and Alpha doesn't seem like a good fit to me. On other products that do provide native code running in an offline mode, the SQLite database is key. (Because it can temporarily retain data which is later synced with a server when a connection is available. It's light, it's small, and it's "quick.")

    I had read some advanced technical info regarding new solutions to this problem in newer versions/revisions of SQLite. But they are far from perfect, and can result in other issues when these advanced features are implemented to help address "lockout" issues.... (I can't remember exactly the term they use, but one scenario can occur where a SQLite connection request can become "stuck" indefinitely unsuccessfully trying to gain access to the data.)
    Last edited by SNusa; 04-16-2013, 08:21 PM.

    Leave a comment:


  • DaveM
    replied
    Re: Free or Low Cost DB Manager app for SQLite?

    One thing for sure is to have your ducks(tools) lined out before getting heavy into a project.

    which tool(s) - alpha and/or and side apps to be infused - a lot of tools can access two or more containers at a time, so that can be cofusing too.
    which container(s) database sources
    which OS(s) - win, linux, unix, mac

    Leave a comment:


  • jkwrpc
    replied
    Re: Free or Low Cost DB Manager app for SQLite?

    Tom - Thanks for the post.

    I do see that now, but they also talk about it being suitable for web apps. So I am confused, a common state for me. I am going to take a closer look at Firebird. It is the InterBase database that in being bought and sold was for short time made open source. They came to view this as mistake and eliminated the open source license but by that time Firebird was off and running as open source. Its a very robust database but does have a small footprint version for embedding and does not require a server running. For those reasons it may be a better choice for my needs. I need to do more research.

    Leave a comment:


  • DaveM
    replied
    Re: Free or Low Cost DB Manager app for SQLite?

    Originally posted by Tom Cone Jr View Post
    I believe the authors of SQLite recommend AGAINST using it for applications where multiple users are entering, changing, and deleting records in the same database at or near the same time.
    I need to look that one up. For sure!

    Leave a comment:

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