Delphi users accustomed to Paradox could make an easy and painless switch to Advantage DB. It will painlessly migrate your Paradox app over to Advantage. It's got the advantage in that it just requires a few DLL's in the application directory and has a much lower memory footprint than Paradox. It has some minor quirks but the documentation is quite adequate. DJS
Katja Bergman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Hi, I have experimented with XML a bit and it's not as easy to use as you'd assume at first. I borrowed a tool called 'XMLSpy' from my dad, who is a professional software developer and it helped me to create schema's and other files to be used but it's a pretty expensive tool. Another problem with Delphi is that it doesn't support XML as well as I hoped for. Well, the .NET implementation works fine but the WIN32 implementation of XML in Delphi has a few flaws. The date-format is crooked and boolean fields are written the wrong way too. (Delphi uses 'True' or 'False' while they should have used 'true' or 'false - all lowercase.) As a result, Delphi's XML implementation isn't fully compatible with the full XML standard. Meaning you'll need some better third-party components or use the MSXML libraries more directly in your code, without the Delphi wizards... Another interesting and free alternative is FlashFiler from TurboPower. You can fint it at http://sourceforge.net/projects/tpflashfiler/ and it's real useful for client-server applications. But you'll need some knowledge about TCP/IP to get it working correctly and it's a bit out-of-date right now. (But you get full source and don't need any third-party libraries or whatever.) With FlashFiler you have to create two applications. First of all a server application which will maintain the database. This application would preferably be a system service, running in the background. The second application is your client application which just connects to the server. This means that your application can run on a different computer than your database and it can also handle quite a few users at the same time. It's pretty reliable, but not real easy to use. MS SQL Server isn't free for distribution, is it? Besides, such an installation might interfere if a user already has an SQL Server database installed on their system. If you're looking for a local database then I'd say that Access is actually the only good solution. Or Paradox if you don't mind installing the BDE with your application. If you need multiple users accessing the same database or want the database installed on a different system than your executable, InterBase, SQL Server or FlashFiler would be better alternatives. If you really want to keep it simple for the user and if you can handle the complexity, consider using FlashFiler in that case. It's not easy to use at first but it means that you can contain everything within one or two applications. (The FlashFiler server could also be a FlashFiler client. It doesn't have to be a service.) With kind regards, X Katja Bergman. --- In [email protected], "custom_soft_sol" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi Katja, > > Yes, I do know that XML is not a true DB, the reason I thought of it > was because it is free :) > > My options at this point are Firebird, MSSQL 2005 Express, XML and > Access. > > I really would rather not use access though. I would love to use > MSSQL 2005 Express, but then I need to get a very easy way of > installing it silently and being able to maintain it from within my > application (which should not be too bad as I have done it before). > > Are there any other ideas that anyone can help me with? > > Thanks > > --- In [email protected], "Katja Bergman" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > > Hi, > > > > I myself am just a student so I know what you mean with 'free, > easy > > installation and maintenance'. :-) That does limit your options a > bit, > > though. > > One thing that you'll have to keep in mind is the design of your > > application. How many people will be accessing the database at the > > same time, for example? Would those users actually need straight > > access to the data too? Or would their only access to the data be > > through your application? > > > > About XML... You do realise that XML isn't a real database format? > > It's just a storage protocol for data and often useful for simple > > configuration files or to exchange data between multiple > applications. > > > > Interbase and MySQL are good, free options but not too easy to > > install. But if you have installed MS-Office then Access might > also be > > an interesting alternative. All you need to work with Access is > ADO > > and of course the database file with your data inside it. And it > would > > allow users to access the data directly too. > > Access has one other good thing, though. While you have to pay for > the > > product itself, distributing ADO and your Access database files is > > just free of charge. So your users wouldn't have to pay for Access > if > > they just use your application. Besides, Office is a very popular > > product too. > > > > Access is also pretty easy to maintain and install. I know that > > especially Delphi developers who are used to DBase or Paradox > consider > > it a moral sin to even consider using Access but it cannot be > denied > > that it's a very good alternative. > > > > With kind regards, > > X Katja Bergman. ----------------------------------------------------- Home page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/delphi-en/ To unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups SponsorADVERTISEMENT --------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/delphi-en/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business - Try our new resources site! 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