I am working on a windows app. The user has to register first to use this application. So in order to store user information, I am using MS-Access as a database. There is not much information to be stored as this application will be on individuals machine. There are few settings and some user information to be stored.
What I am feeling is that with the use of MS-Access, my application will be dependent on other application as MS-Access. It is not necessary to have the MS-office on the end user's machine.
So can you suggest me the best way to store the data safely without any dependence.
One thing I want to clear is that, the information will be of different types like it will consists of user information, some folder/files paths and some other information. I would like to keep these information separate from each other.
Thanks
Abhie
I think I found the solution.
Best practice to save application settings in a Windows Forms Application
I hope this will help others facing same problem.
Stackoverflow Team You are doing fabulous job. One suggestion; can you put some chat option for developers to discuss their problems. I think this would make it more easy to find answers to complex problems...:)
Regards
you need to include Access Database Engine drivers in the client PC, in order to connect it .
MS Access Database Engine
If you're using .NET, the best bet for getting the recommended folder locations for application data (e.g. your mdb file) is probably best retrieved using Environment.GetFolderPath
See:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.environment.getfolderpath.aspx
You're likely interested in ApplicationData or LocalApplicationData for user specific data or CommonApplicationData for data shared by all users as your storage location (and then the proper company / product subdirectories appended to it).
Related
I'd like to install umbraco in a way that will allow multiple instances to be deployed, but to share media and views between them (think "load balancing").
The default installation appears to place media and views in subdirectories of the installed Umbraco instance. For media, it would appear that the data can be moved to a central location using either S3, Azure Blob storage, or custom IFileSystem providers.
It is not clear to me whether the same can be done with Views.
Is it possible to redirect storage of views to a virtual file system? If so, how would this be accomplished.
(I don't need code, just to know what classes/configuration is needed, I'm specifically using Umbraco CMS 7.x, if this is behavior has changed since previous versions.)
Thanks in advance.
No, this is not possible.
If you are even just thinking about load balancing then make sure to follow this exact documentation, there is currently no other way of load balancing Umbraco reliably.
Also, to add to Sebastian's answer... the general way to achieve what you want is to turn on file replcation between the load-balanced servers.
I am making a C# program that recreates websites in offline mode for use at computers within the company, that are not connected to the internet. These offline websites are identical to their online versions, with all content displayed.
I already have a solution for websites with simple MySQL access, but I need to rewrite the program, so that it can handle Drupal based websites aswell. However, I couldn't figure out how to access Drupal's SQL database, or even what to look for.
The original program uses the website's templates (that are already rewritten in HTML), and places the data mined out of it's database in the templates. Problem is, I don't know where to look for Drupal's templates, or if there aren't any, what data should I gather from it's database.
I use MySQL Connector to reach the database with C#. Should I look for the nodes? If yes, where?
If you want to go down that path you will have to sort of act like Drupal, in order to know which things to read from where. Each module installed has their own tables and functions in a particular way, so not always all the data are nodes with fields.
I you need to work with websites in offline mode, I would suggest using a portable webserver, that way you just copy the website to the root folder and run a script to copy the MySQL database as well, the point being that it's portable, you can carry it around in a flash drive and to run it, you don't need to install anything.
Again, what you want to do is possible, but it will require a tremendous amount of work and you cannot guarantee that things will behave well when you install new modules.
Another approach would be to look into the Boost module, which creates offline, static files based on the request you make to the site, and stores them in a configurable folder.
Another way: build a screenscrapper which reads the HTML from the homepage, and recursively follows the links and modify them before saving the HTML yo your local copy.
Summing it up.. avoid accessing the database yourself and try to read the HTML already rendered.
I am learning C# using Visual Studio and I am running into some issues.
I am developing a Windows form application. The application is meant to track user's running stats.
In settings: they select how many days they run and for each day they add their workout (ie: 1: 100m sprints 2: 50m sprints 3: Run a mile).
Then in the main windows form the user will be able to add their times and save it. Meanwhile a graph is projected of their times- this will allow the user to track their progress.
My question is where should I store their times? Right now I store all settings in the settings.settings doc. For the times should I use the settings file or a SQL database of some sort?
SqlCE or SQLite or any other simple inproc database will be better than Settings file.
Settings are not meant to grow with every user input, this is a task for a database, also it will be much easier to query your data using SQL.
Answering your question in comments:
There is a difference between user data and user preferences. You have to decide which is what in your app.
I would go with Settings file with everything regarding user preferences. Like form layout, colors, sounds, window size and so on.
Since Settings managing framework is pretty sophisticated, you will save yourself some time designing tables for user preferences and developing access to that tables.
Another possibly bright side of Settings file - it can be edited manually with text editor.
It is not possible to answer you without a lot more information about what a "user's running stats" is and how it is used. I can give a few general guidelines, though.
System.Configuration.ApplicationSettings are designed for customizing an application for a specific user; for example, what language the user wants the application to use, where he wants windows to appear, or default values. Settings are part of the application; they are created when the application is installed and deleted when the application is uninstalled. If multiple users run the application, each typically gets their own settings. You typically define settings when you create the application and users never add or remove them.
Databases are used to persist user data. They are typically not tied to a specific user or application; users add the data, which is available to other users or applications. Applications typically aren't installed with all user data, nor is user data deleted when the application is uninstalled.
SQL databases are used for relational data; data that has internal structure, like "all users must have exactly one address", or "any user may have zero or more phone numbers". If your data is not relational you do not need a relational database.
These are general guidelines, specific applications may do things differently for specific purposes. If you tell us more about your application we will be able to provide more specific information.
I'am programming a Windows 8 Store App (Metro Design) with C# and XAML using Visual Studio 2012.
There is no need for a database server with multi user support etc.
I want to store my data in a local database and don't know which database is suitable for my needs.
Maybe SQLite? Or are there solutions that fits better for Windows Store Apps and integrates better in Visual Studio?
The app is kind of a calender and the database should store the user data that consists of the dates, tasks and so on.
SQLite is supported for WinRT.
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/23f6c55a-4909-4b1f-80b1-25792b11639e
SQLite is the recommended database to be used for Win 8 Apps.
Links for implementing the same
http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2012/08/07/updated-how-to-using-sqlite-from-windows-store-apps.aspx
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsapps/Using-SQLite-Asynchronously-b8372137
https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/23f6c55a-4909-4b1f-80b1-25792b11639e
Ok, this is a great question that I had to learn the hard way. By default WinRT applications do NOT have access to, directly at least, to any type of database structure. This means no Express, Compact, CE, SQLite etc.
There are three ways around this. Do not use a database and instead use a local file structure where you store and retrieve your data. XML works very nicely with this because you can maintain many of the same features a database would give you.
The second option is to use IndexedDB. It is similar to a cookie style local storage model where files are saved in your apps local apps folder.
The third and final option is to use web services. WinRT does have access to the internet which means you can write API and WebServices that can be called. This does mean that you need to have a server running which is connected to a master database. When your app needs data it calls your web service and obtains what it needs.
Overall, for the application you are describing the first option may best suite your needs. Keep a local XML file in your apps folder and read/write from it.
My question was marked as a duplicate of this question (although it was about C++ not C#). I thought I should still post my findings here. C++ apps have another alternative:
Extensible Storage Engine (ESE)
The list of all such API available for Store apps can be found on this link under the section Jet.
As one of variant:
Devart LinqConnect for Metro – a fully-functional high-performance ORM solution for developing Windows Store applications using either of LINQ or ADO.NET to access data.
http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsapps/A-Simple-Windows-Store-85f29843#content
or next link can be usefull to
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/18417.windows-store-app-with-a-sqlite-database.aspx
1) I use Visual Studio 2008 (C#)
2) I want my desktop application to "remember" certain settings (preferences) for every user individually.
3) The application would use its own database of users (logins + passwords), so they have nothing to do with Windows accounts.
How can I accomplish that? Trying to find an answer
4) I've found the "Using Alternate Sets of Settings" subject on MSDN => http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa730869%28VS.80%29.aspx - but
5) it suggests that even these alternative settings need to be added in design time. That's a bit of a problem, because:
6) I don't know in advance, how many users would be in the database - and I want the "main user" (admin) to have an option of adding more accounts any time he wants.
So
7) how do I accomplish that?
So far I thought about:
8) using isolated storage files? (but they, too, are user-scoped in the sense of referring to Windows accounts)
9) deriving my own class from ApplicationSettingsBase class and supplying it with a SaveAs() method (which it lacks by default)?
Thanks for any answers / suggestions.
If my problem is not quite clear, I'm happy to clarify
If you have a database that stores users and passwords, why not store the application settings there as well? I'm assuming you're using SQL Server (Express or commercial)
All "Settings" are in .NET are key, value pairs, and I don't see why you couldn't accomplish this exact same functionality with a name value pair in the database.
I've found that the "Settings" and Configuration management tools are confusing and tricky to use, so if you have a database with users in it already, you might as well leverage your existing infrastructure.
You could use a SQLite database to hold all the data. (See System.Data.SQLite)
You should think about using the ASP.NET Membership provider. It allows for per-user personalization settings as well as 'all user' settings.
It was built for web sites, but you can configure it for use in a desktop application pretty easily. Also, there is a whole API that is already written for it.