Database tool

[Jan Schenkel]

--- Michael Young <myoung at bigskyneuro.com> wrote:
> Hello experts,
> 
> I need some advice before I head down a path that
> may end in a dead end
> since I am still an RR neophyte getting to know this
> tool.
> 
> I know the old saying about choosing the right tool
> for the job, however
> while I have engineering degrees and programming
> experience in LabVIEW, C,
> Pascal on IBM mainframe, PEP assembler and etc. I am
> currently a hobbyist
> who does not have the time to learn and use multiple
> tools so I subscribe to
> the theory of learning one hammer really well and
> turning everything into a
> nail. :-) (For example, I previously used LabVIEW to
> create simple HTML
> files by pulling files from various local hard drive
> directories that for
> those of you who know LIVE probably seems silly, but
> it worked well. I
> viewed myself as inventive not crazy. :-) ) So, is
> RR a reasonable database
> tool substitute for an application like Filemaker
> Pro on Macintosh OS X to
> create simple databases (single user with hundreds
> of new records per month
> and sometimes simple file i/o for pdf storage and
> display retrieval)? If so,
> where can I find the "best practice" examples on how
> to develop such
> databases (I have already worked through the
> tutorial database)? If not,
> what database management system is suggested? (I do
> not want to start a
> flame war, but I simply do not like FMP.)
> 
> Thanks in advance for your input,
> 
> Michael
> 

Hi Michael,

As you're looking for an elaborate yet easy-to-use
general-purpose development tool, Revolution is an
excellent candidate.

If you only need Windows and MacOS support, Valentina
is a wonderful companion as you only need single-user
access.
The best part is that if you don't use any
database-specific SQL-extensions, you can take your
code and hook it up to MySQL, PostgreSQL or any
ODBC-enabled database, and all you have to do is
change the connection parameters.

The built-in query manager and its database-linked
fields, checkboxes and option-menus make it easy to
hook your stacks up to an SQL database, with a minimum
of scripting effort required.
Some people even use Revolution in conjunction with
FileMaker Pro : you'll get all the flexibility of a
complete scripting language, along with the power of
one of the easiest databases to setup and maintain.

As for tutorials, have a look at the Revolution
Developer Central - User contributions :
<http://www.runrev.com/Revolution1/developercentral/usercontributions.html>
Direct link to Tuviah Snyder's Database Examples :
<http://www.runrev.com/revolution/downloads/developerdownloads/DB%20Examples.zip>

And Sarah Reichelt has some fine examples on how to
hook up Revolution to MySQL ; check out her site :
<http://www.troz.net/Rev/>

Last but not least, a great alternative to all the SQL
databases, is Serendipity Database - Binary ; written
entirely in Transcript ; works seamlessly across the
11 Revolution-supported platforms ; can be completely
embedded in your applications.
Then again, the author Rob Cozens already gave you a
link, so you may have downloaded it and played around
a bit ; I mainly wanted to endorse it :-)

Hope this helped,

Jan Schenkel.

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

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