Getting Started with a Database

[Trevor DeVore]

On Feb 16, 2006, at 5:34 PM, Kay C Lan wrote:

> On 2/16/06, Trevor DeVore <lists at mangomultimedia.com> wrote:
>>
>> I recommend against using Valentina with revDB
>
> I take this to mean that you recommend using Valentina direct calls.
>
> Is this just because of speed issues, or are there bugs, gotchas or  
> other
> complexities involved with using Rev calls to Valentina.
>
> (or is it just a shameless plug that you should use your excellent  
> libDb to
> handle comms between Rev and Val;-)

A couple of reasons -

1) Valentina is a database engine that receives frequent updates.   
The version of Valentina that was used in creating the RevDB driver  
can become outdated very quickly.  By using the Valentina external  
you can always keep your database engine current.  I'm not sure if  
Rev compiled in the last released Valentina 1.x code or not  
(Valentina is at 2.x).

2) You can't use encryption with RevDB.  Valentina supports  
encryption of your data structure and/or data.  This handy feature  
can't be used with RevDB.  At least not with any of the published  
RevDB calls.

3) As far as I know, you can't access all of the handy Valentina  
functions through RevDB such as setting the the debug level.  Not  
being able to set the debug level is painful when tracking down  
problems.  Perhaps there is a way to do this with a SQL call, but I  
am not aware of how to do it.  Valentina has a very rich API for  
interacting with the database.  Only the external gives you access to  
this.

Those were the main reasons I decided to use the Valentina external  
rather than the RevDB Valentina driver when I wrote libDatabase.  One  
benefit is that I have been able to add support (though not fully  
tested) for Valentina 2 without waiting for RevDB to be updated.


-- 
Trevor DeVore
Blue Mango Multimedia
trevor at mangomultimedia.com