Multi-user stack question

[Stephen Barncard]

Hey, Jim,

I've had many false starts with client/server databases in Xtalks 
since the early 90's. All of them had to talk through ODBC which was 
horrible. We bought an SQL database called Butler that almost worked, 
but crashed all the time. Eventually we (like everyone else) ended up 
with Filemaker.

I started using MySQL 3 years ago to automate stuff on some websites 
and it all came back to me. For my current project I looked at 
everything out there but had already gotten familiar with mySQL, so 
what the hell.

First I checked out what Rev could do with its built in commands. 
Sarah's MSQL stacks at
http://www.troz.net/Rev/tutorials.php

got me started with that, and it worked beautifully, but the commands 
in native rev require a bit of housekeeping and other work - it 
looked and acted strangely when I would try to do my own code in it. 
And the builder stuff didn't really work very well. I just wanted to 
send the MYSQL commands out and get data back!

Then I got Trevor's library, tried a couple of things, had an AHA 
moment, and it's all worked really well from here. I rely on it 
greatly. It abstracts the more complex revDB calls into much more 
simple handlers.

If the data exchanged between the users in your app is important, I 
urge you to try some kind of client server architecture for major 
speed, performance, and security. I highly recommend a high quality 
server - it will solve all problems of

where to put the data
how to get it back
how to quickly find, process, sort, collate and format
how to control access, especially simultaneous access
how to index, garbage collect, etc.

Why reinvent?

If you use anything but a database, you'll have to handle all of that yourself!
So yes, a database is highly recommended. Then one can attack the 
unique problem of programming the data and the interface and not 
worry about storage!

  Although a single user versions of MySQL are available, it should be 
noted that professional use of mySQL is NOT free, and that perhapse 
even more Rev-friendly (and much more sophisticated) products are out 
there such at Valentina, who offer a nice office package with server 
and 5 deployments for a very reasonable price. And Valentina  is 
faster than mySQL with more features, and reads standard SQL syntax 
with many more features.

Oh, and Trevor's library will work with Valentina as well.

contact Trevor Devore for further details about his lib. Trevor had 
the lib up online but they changed domain names and the old link 
doesn't work anymore.

you can see a leftover page explaining how to use it, however this is 
for an earlier version - don't use this version 1.4.5 --

http://mangomultimedia.com/developer/revolution/libDatabase_article.html

stephen barncard


>Mark,
>Thanks for responding!
>
>How do I get RunRev to be multi-user?  (w/o using a DB)
>
>I started using mysql with Navicat to test and I found myself 
>putting hours into figuring it out.  If I could right a 100% RunRev 
>app for everyone on my team that would be great.  But, if I have to 
>use a database to get the multi-user feature, in your opinion, which 
>DB  is the easiest to get going (windows based but I can run the db 
>on mac if needed).
>
>Thanks Mark
>
>Jim...
>
>

-- 
stephen barncard
s a n  f r a n c i s c o
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