Re: [gnome-db]personal databases with gnome-db

[Rodrigo Moya <rodrigo gnome-db org>]

On 12 Apr 2001 12:36:23 +0200, Holger Thon wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On Wed, Apr 11, 2001 at 08:53:43PM +0200, Rodrigo Moya wrote:
> > Hi!
> > 
> > It seems that GNOME-DB is the only candidate for database stuff, so we
> > should take special attention to this, since this would be a major use
> > of GNOME-DB. One thing that's been said is that GNOME-DB should provide
> > the personal database stuff to GO. By personal, I suppose it's meant
> > "oriented to simple users".
> 
> Well, what i experience most from "simple users" is, that they want something
> to work, but don't really care how it works. :-)
> 
> Hence, the idea with a set up default gda-provider is very good. I'm though
> not sure, wether to use xml, csv, or berkeley db for that. Here are the
> pros and cons having in mind, that it's for simple users.
> 
>



> 
> Having that in mind, i'd prefer berkeley db for the standard gda-provider,
> because it's fast and reliable. XML would be my second choise; despite
> the high developement effort it would be possible to modify and import 
> that sources easily into other GO-applications (as e.g. gnumeric uses xml 
> for storing its data) or even put them on a web page.
> 

well, the problem with Berkeley DB is that it only allows key->value
pairs to be stored, which makes it a bit difficult for a novice user to
have to distribute its data into several files. What about gdbm, does it
work the same way?

I've been looking at the sqlite (http://www.hwaci.com/sw/sqlite/)
proposed by Adam, and it looks like another good candidate. It even
supports SQL, so it's got lot of the work made for us. It seems like a
perfect choice also for advanced users, since it support smost of the
DBMS stuff, and allows, for example, to play with a local database
before actually using the BIG database on the server.

> Predefined relations (e.g. addressbook table, video/cd collection table, 
> disk catalogue) would also be something that helps simple users use gnome-db 
> (and if it's just a hardcoded create table statement, first :-).

yes, we could perfectly use XML queries for that, and distribute the XML
files as part of GNOME-DB.

> A simplified DB-Designer Component (table designer being able to add/remove
> columns and finally proceed generation of the table) would also be valuable
> for them (as they would not want to design using er-models, would they ;-).
> 
> Perhaps, the predefined relations could be included into this component later
> or imported and modified by the users needs.
> 
yes, sounds like a good idea to have all this for novice users. So, let's vote for

the standard GDA backend (please fill in :-)

sqlite (rodrigo)
Berkeley DB ()
XML ()
GDBM ()
csv ()


-- 
Rodrigo Moya <rodrigo gnome-db org> <rodrigo ximian com>
http://www.gnome-db.org/