Jean T. Anderson wrote: > Matt Sanford wrote: > >> Hello all, >> >> I agree a UI is nice when you are trying out new dev libraries. >> Something so you can quickly evaluate if you want to pursue this or >> not. Having said that, I think it's a terrible off-topic use of time >> to build a GUI. Derby is a database, and as such should do one thing >> and do it very well (even if it is a rather large thing to do). I >> would suggest that we just solicit someone like Aqua Data Studio >> (http://www.aquafold.com/) to add us to the first-tier list of >> databases and point users to that. I only suggest Aqua because it was >> very recently asked about on this list and confirmed to work and does >> have a personal/educational license. I am sure there are other options >> I am not aware of with friendlier licensing that could be made to work >> well with Derby. > > > I think both approaches have merit.
Right, all approaches have merit and solve different problems for different people. There is no one correct GUI for Derby. I can think of at least five styles: Eclipse plugin Netbeans plugin (is that the correct term?) Eclipse RCP Standalone Web-based Then what is the purpose of the tool, administration, database development, data analysis, etc. Again different needs for different folks. > I'm delighted to see anyone with energy contribute effort to developing > a GUI for Derby. > It's also great for existing third-party products to add Derby to their > list of supported databases. +1 to those two. I would also encourage people to look at what's out there and get involved. If you have an itch for a good GUI Derby plugin for Eclipse then look at the existing Eclipse projects, such as Data Tools Project (DTP), Web Tools Project (WTP) and BIRT. A lot of the basic functionality already exists there, such as schema browsing etc. Maybe Derby specific plugins could be added. >> Or perhaps the Apache DB project should start work on a new GUI >> outside of the Derby project as part of the maintenance portion of the >> mission statement. > > > If somebody wants to champion a completely new GUI project for Apache > DB, they'd be welcome to speak up. It'd be interesting to see if enough > volunteer interest could be drummed up to sustain such a project. As Jean says if someone wants to go for that, that would be great. Derby's charter currently says "Database GUI tooling and IDEs are not developed by the Derby project." I would say that any general purpose database GUI tool does not belong in the Derby project, that would be better as a sub-project of Apache DB. It's possible that Derby specific GUI tooling (e.g. admin tools for configuring Derby specific features) could be added into the Derby charter. Dan.
