Database newbie questions

[Jan Schenkel]

--- "John R. Brauer" <drjohn at wellminds.org> wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> I am a newbie. I am working on a project which will
> require that I 
> store data in a database (a separate record for each
> client, and about 
> six hundred fields per record). Each time it is
> used, it will need to 
> generate a new record for that client (it is a
> program that will 
> administer and score an exam of sorts) My questions:
> 
> a) which database would you suggest (I guess that
> Oracle, MySQL and 
> Valentina are my options)?
> 
> b) is there an internal way of doing this instead of
> one of the above 
> databases?
> 
> c) will the standalone app then incorporate the
> database functions, or 
> will the enduser be required to have the database in
> question installed 
> on their computer as well?
> 
> Sorry if this duplicates, I inadvertently used a
> wrong email address 
> the first time, adn do not know if it will get
> through the moderator 
> that way. Thank you much...
> 
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> 
> John R. Brauer, Psy.D.
> Clinical Psychologist


Hi John,

600 fields in a single record ? That would have killed
off FoxPro as a database engine -- are you sure it
wouldn't be better to rearrange the tabledesign a bit
?
Be that as it may, you are definitely not without
options regarding hooking Revolution up to databases.

If your target platforms are Windows and Mac (and
_NOT_ Linux or another Unix variant), and you don't
need multi-user access, Valentina is an excellent
choice, as it doesn't require the setup of a database
server.
And if you need multi-user capabilities, Valentina
will be available in a client-server flavour pretty
soon.

There is also a native option, in the form of SDB --
Serendipity Database Binary ; written completely in
Transcript, it takes care of storing and retrieving
the data in an efficient way, cross-platform.
Hopefully Rob Cozens' website is up and running again
soon so you can have a look at it.

As Pierre sugegsted, MySQL and PostgreSQL are great,
cheap aternatives ; though some may find setting up
and administrating these database servers an
intimidating thought.
And lest we forget, ODBC opens up quite a bit more
data storage options : Access, FileMaker,...

Hope this helped you make the right choice,

Jan Schenkel.

=====
"As we grow older, we grow both wiser and more foolish at the same time."  (La Rochefoucauld)

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