[techtrucker]

Short version of the story: I need to develop a database application for OS X. It will be used in a small office with about 5 users. Here are my options as I see them, any feedback would be greatly appreciated...

1. Cocoa/SQL variant: I am fluent in Cocoa and somewhat comfortable with SQL but am unfamiliar with PostgreSQL or MySQL. My attempt at getting Postgres installed was not fun. Hoping for easier db admin..Commercial SQL variations would be okay as long as they are not $$$.

2. AppleScript Studio/FileMaker: I am comfortable here, and we already have the software. Concern: Speed over the network. An experimental app I created shows that loading a table with 200 records is not too speedy.
Need to have an Aqua interface, so using FMPro Layouts is out.

3. Realbasic. I own the pro version, am comfortable with it but have never used it's database components. Planning on experimenting this weekend.

Java is out, I do not know the language..I know C/C++ well enough but don't want to get into another language now.

Thanks again for any and all input.

Steve W

[dampeoples]

Sounds like the easiest to get started would be filemaker. What other factors contributed to the database being slow over a network? And how often would they need to load that table? If it's a once a day thing that they will load in the morning, and leave minimized all day until they need it, that shouldn't be a problem

[tobli]

Depending on your needs, SQLLite might be worth looking at. It's an sql database that you can integrate into your application. There's a nice Cocoa wrapper for it available here http://blackholemedia.com/code/.

If you need a separate database I'd recommend MySQL. It's really easy to install (even simpler with the installer packages by Marc Liyanage). There are quite a few nice GUI apps that allow simple administration, try searching at versiontracker. I'd recommend YourSQL (it's free) but there are many other as well.

[techtrucker]

Originally posted by dampeoples:
Sounds like the easiest to get started would be filemaker. What other factors contributed to the database being slow over a network? And how often would they need to load that table? If it's a once a day thing that they will load in the morning, and leave minimized all day until they need it, that shouldn't be a problem

Well, part of it I think was me and part was AS Studio. I'm sure there are ways to optimize the loading of tables...I was iterating through the FM database and creating a list of lists, then laoding that (one row at a time) in the table. Since my last phase of experimenting Apple has added the "append" command so that you can load a table in one shot. I'm going to play around with that and see how it goes.
The old software they're running now uses tables extensively, and that's what they're used to. I thought about creating the interface without tables and having them search for whatever record they needed, but they're typical end users...
There are other possible optimizations...Applescripts run lightning fast within FM Pro, so I thought about running a script periodically in the database then dumping the list in a field somewhere to get retrieved in one shot.
Thanks for the input!

Steve W

[techtrucker]

Originally posted by tobli:
Depending on your needs, SQLLite might be worth looking at. It's an sql database that you can integrate into your application. There's a nice Cocoa wrapper for it available here http://blackholemedia.com/code/.

If you need a separate database I'd recommend MySQL. It's really easy to install (even simpler with the installer packages by Marc Liyanage). There are quite a few nice GUI apps that allow simple administration, try searching at versiontracker. I'd recommend YourSQL (it's free) but there are many other as well.

Thanks for the input, I will definitely check out SQLLite. I know the SQL langauge well enough, I'm just not familiar with the *nix variants (worked extensively with FoxPro in the past). I must admit to not trying too hard...I downloaded the PostgreSQL installer from Marc's site but had a heck of a time getting the server running. I need to apply myself a little more!
Question about MySQL: Am I wrong in thinking it's primarily for web databases? I do need transaction support. I'm not so concerned about having a GUI front end to create the tables, I'm more concerned about speed and stability. I really like the idea of using something with ObjC wrappers, I was very disappointed that EOF was not included with the dev tools (except WO).
Thanks once again!

Steve W

[tobli]

Originally posted by techtrucker:
Question about MySQL: Am I wrong in thinking it's primarily for web databases? I do need transaction support.

If I'm not misstaken MySQL 3.x doesn't support transactions for the default table type used. Either you'll have to configure it to use a different table type (check the online docs for details) or you'll have to use MySQL 4.

[techtrucker]

Thanks for the reply...I remember reading something about MySQL only recently adding transaction support, will have to do more reasearch...

Steve W

[smeger]

If you decide to go with Cocoa and mySQL, the mySQL package from Mark Liyange noted above is extremely easy to install. You can use phpMyAdmin to configure it (also very easy to install and setup). Finally, you can use this Cocoa wrapper in your program.

I did this earlier in the week to convert some web-based photo albums I had in Zope to a new Slooze-based PHP format. It took me about an hour to adapt the sample code that came with the Cocoa wrapper to my needs.

Also, phpMyAdmin is nice because it gives you a GUI for performing common database operations, and then tells you what the mySQL command to it would have been.

[Angus_D]

Originally posted by smeger:
Finally, you can use this Cocoa wrapper in your program.

Note that it's GPL.

[techtrucker]

Thanks again...so I guess MySQL is "good enough" for small Cocoa db applications...that's good news, I had a heck of a time with Postrgres for some reason. Going to try a test app today with MySQL.

Steve W