On 19 Aug 2008 at 7:38, Johannes Gebauer wrote: > My orchestra needs to create a database for its small, but growing music > library. Can someone give me some hints on how to do this, preferable on > a Mac? I want something which is easy to maintain and where I can see > how many string parts we have, perhaps also who borrows which part, etc.
>From a few minutes of Googling, I don't see anything commercially available. The reason my first response is to look for a shink- wrapped solution is simply that cataloging musie is, in fact, one of the most complex database projects you're ever going to find. I've been struggling with the issues since 1991, when I started my own database of my dissertation repertory. For Mac, the only real scriptable desktop database option is FileMaker. I've known many people who are computer savvy like you, Johannes, who've had a very easy time putting together something very usable in FileMaker (and they had fun with it, too). I, of course, program professionally in MS Access, but it's not available for Mac and is not as easy to use out of the box as FileMaker (though Access 2007 narrows the gap significantly). Access is much more flexible in the long run though because it's base programming language is so much more extensive (and extensible with COM support). The main drawback for me of FileMaker is its lack of support for industry-standard SQL, but this is not really an issue for those who simply need to put together a database for their own use (it could become an issue if the project grows to the point of needing to be expanded into something bigger by a pro). Another alternative that I wouldn't recommend is going with a web- based project, where you use something like MySQL to store your data and program a user interface in some scripting language like PHP. This will take much more time and not have nearly as good a UI as what you could build with FileMaker, but it would have the advantage of then being easily rolled out for other's use on a web page. On the other hand, FileMaker is reported to port to the Web very easily, though I have no way to evaluate how true that actually is. Given that I think web porting is at best a secondary issue, FileMaker seems to me to be your best bet. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
