I want to develop a POS application in .NET (C#) that would be used to rent items. I have a good idea of what will be done and the famous question that I have is about the DBMS that I should use. I would like to use MySQL database.
The question is: If some places use only one computer (no network, no internet connection), can I use a MySQL database in local? Do I need to install MySQL server on all thoses computers to be able to use such a database? I know SQLite but I'm not sure if the limitations can cause problems in the future... I also looked at SQLServer Express versions.
(I must consider that other point of sales are using multiple computers and more transactions so there I can't put sqlexpress or sqlite)
So can anybody suggest me what I should do in that situation?
Thanks
You would be able to use MySQL in localhost - and it would need to be installed on each local machine.
You could use MySQL. If you are sharing a database between several computers you should just be able to install the MySQL client components.
As for which database you want to use, I would highly suggest SQL Express. The security model and tooling is much better. There is nothing stopping you from using SQL Express as a shared database server until you out grow it.
SQL Express Redistribution EULA
POS systems like Open bravo POS software where special user types and hardware devices support are required.ou can use sharing a database between several computers for using sql.
Related
I need to create an application that does the following:
The application is going to be installed on multiple computers on the same network
There is going to be a computer that contains the database other computers will connect to that database. (So there is a server version of the software and a client version)
All the computers that have the application installed should be able to do CRUD (create, read,...) operations in the database.
Database will be small, that is it should be less than 1GB in size.
Problems that I have:
I don't know which database to use:
SQLite - From researching on the internet this seems like a great database. It is fast, very easy to deploy . The problem is that from researching I think it is not that good handling multiple connections. When I say multiple I mean 5 computers using the database simultaneously.
MySQL - I work with this database and I know it is great handling multiple connections. The problem with that database is that I don't know how I will be able to deploy that database. I am required to deploy a database when installing the software. I know that if I require the users to instal MySQL doing a separate installation that will work. Maybe there is a way of deploying MySQL when doploying a project in visual studio.
SQL Server Express - I believe this will be my best option. I have researched on the internet and I found out that it is possible to deploy a SQL Server Express database with a application. I believe it will be easy to figure out how to deploy such database with a project but it will be nice if someone can point me on the right direction on how to connect to that database remotely from a computer on the same network. The database will obviously be shared in the network in order to achieve this.
Microsoft Access Database - I never use this database. I know it can handle multiple connections. Maybe it is a good choice.
It will be nice if someone can point me on the right direction of how to be able to deploy a database when installing my application. Moreover how will I be able to connect to that database from a computer remotely on the same network. Since the database is small and it will just contain text I think that the best idea will be to keep the database on the internet but I cannot do that. The software is required to work without an internet connection.
EDIT
From looking at your answers it looks like I have to install SQL Server express or MySql on the server computer. The problem is that I am required to do one installation. Is there a way of deploying MySql or SQL Server Express when deploying my application. Perhaps I have to embed mysql in the application and make my application install it somehow. My boss want to be able to install the software without having a internet connection.
EDIT 2
I been thinking and this part will be very hard to implement. Do you guys have any ideas how QuickBooks implement their database? I guess I need something similar. When you install Quickbooks you perform just one installation. Quick-books handles pretty well simultaneous connections. Do they use their own database? Oracle? MySQL? I agree with all of you. It will be so easy to perform two installations. Also it will be cleaner. The software that I am creating is supposed to run on windows xp, and latter versions of windows.
If you want a dbms as your backend you are installing two things, It could look to the user like one thing, but I can tell you from bitter experience, that can be a lot of fun.
For instance to install 2005/ 2008 express, there are various prerequisites. Like a .net framework. Then there's patches and updates, then opening up the firewall(s), depends on set up. Different topology / os choices. Peer to peer, domain based, Active directory, Terminal Services, citrix.
So automagically installing without an internet connection, and using the installer for the db, is nigh on impossible, unless you have rigid control over the user environments.
Welcome to a world of hurt.
Oh did I mention permissions, shares, UAC, 32/64 bit (for sql server dmo and smo, maybe)
Do you want to block installs on "incompatible" environments.
Oh and what about upgrades. To the db, to your apps.
What if your client already has a server install and doesn't want to clutter up their kit with another...
and many many more.
And I bet you just can't wait to test all the potential combinations.
You haven't said what your target environments are going to be, so I can't say how many worms are in the tin, but its's very big time with plenty of room for lots of worms.
Ours is a long running legacy app, so we are pretty much snookered, I'd never willingly start with this design again though. Locally deployed web app would take a lot of the pain out of it.
Go back and scare the crap out of your boss.
I would recommend Sql Server Express installed on a server on your network.
Microsoft Access doesn't handle multiple simultaneous connections very well and is not very efficient when accessed from a remote machine.
You don't need to worry about deploying the database with your client application, you can install Sql Server Express directly on the server. (This only needs to be done once). You will need to configure Sql Server Express to accept remote connections after it is installed on the server.
SQLexpress supports multiple connections. So if you attach database on "server" computer you can than connect from clients same way as you would to local database.(provided those computers are in LAN or VPN).
Several articles on the Internet mention that SQLite is not that good handling multiple connections if all the connections are writing to the same database. I finally managed to deploy my application with SQL Server 2008 express. I also deployed my application with SQLite (downloaded the latest version for .NET framework 4). Since I plan to use this database just on a local network (LAN) I gave SQLite a try. I was impressed on how efficient SQLite was. I tested the Database by connecting with 4 computers symoltaniously and constantly writing data (inserts) to the database. No data was lost. When I did this with SQL express it was also very efficient and I could not tell a obvious difference. Maybe you get to see a real difference once there are 50 computers connected like on a web server for example.
Other nice things about SQLite are that it does not take time to deploy. Also there are no heavy services constantly running. I guess that SQLite is a better choice than SQL express. Moreover SQLexpress will only use 1 CPU and the database is limited to 2GB.
I am going to mist the Linq to SQL classes thought. They where very easy to implement with SQL Server Express. So in short I think that every database is good at something. And in this scenario I guess SQLite was a better option for me and for the users.
P.S.
I am interested in seeing how SQLite lattest version will hanle multiple connections compared to SQLexpress. I will try to test soon with more computers and each computer running multiple threads, each thread performing an insert in the database. maybe I,ll see a big difference with that scenario.
I am starting an application (c#, .net) that will interact with a Microsoft SQL database. I need the ability for multiple clients to access the data concurrently so I an going to use a service based database (.mdf). Is it possible to develop the application using a local database (.sdf) and then easily switch it over to a service based database when it comes time for deployment? Is that how this type of development it typically done?
You can control the data source by providing connection string to your database in .config file.
You can even create Debug and Release versions of your .config file with different connection strings. Debug can point to your local machine and Release to production.
Development shops vary, but it is pretty common to develop apps using SQL Express locally and then use a full installation of SQL Server for the production environment.
The only thing I would advise is make sure that the DB you chose for your dev environment supports the same features as what you expect in production. For example don't use SQL Express on your dev box when you expect to use Oracle in production.
If the database schema in both backends is exactly the same than the only thing you will need to do is change the connection string when you are ready to move to the service based database.
Be aware that the slightest change in the schema can (and probably will) cause problems.
You want to use SQL Compact Edition (as you said database file extension is .sdf), right? You can use MSSQL Express Edition instead, as it acts more like full MSSQL Server, and is still free and not so hard to install on developer's machine (I personally prefer this option). There are differences between the two (as explained here: http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/04/22/sql-server-difference-between-sql-server-compact-edition-ce-and-sql-server-express-edition/). If you don't want features like triggers/procedures/views in your database, you can still use CE, though.
If you have multiple clients then you should use SQL Server Express (.mdf file) - SQL Server Compact (.sdf file) is useful when you are building an application that is going to be deployed on client machines and will run standalone, e.g. windows forms application with a local database. SQL Server Compact is just an alternative for MS Access .mdb files or SQLite, the so called "embedded databases", while SQL Server Express is a real database server (albeit with some limitations to render it unsuitable for large commercial applications) and should be used in the cases where multiple clients use central database, e.g. web applications and smart client apps (the latter could also make use of a local embedded database though).
I want to build a simple database program in C# to add,update and remove information.
The program should be on shared network between 3-5 computers and each could add his information in the same time.
I searched and found that SQLite isn't good for that, and don't know what will be.
I'm looking for some simple database, not something that I should install in each PC to support it.
There isn't an access to the internet, its blocked except a few websites so its not possible to use MSSQL or mySQL.
Thank you.
The fact that the users don't have access to the internet doesn't mean that you can't use MySQL or MS SQL Server. You can install MySQL on one of the computers (the one that will play the server role) and have all the other computers connect to the MySQL instance installed on the local server since you say that they will be on an internal network.
As far as Databases go, there are plenty you can use: MySQL, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, etc... Just don't use MsAccess. ;)
I want to know if it is possible to use MySQL Engine without having to install WAMP Server. I'm developing an application that will require a database, so I was thinking of using MySQL instead of MS SQL or access. So I don't want to install the WAMP package yet I want to install the MySQL Engine, so if possible, please provide me with the download link for the MySQL and how to install and use (start/stop service).
You will need the runtime and the .net connector to make this happen. You also might find the workbench (gui tools to manage the server and run queries) to be helpful.
The runtime installs a service by default, which you can control on the commandline or via the windows service management console (services.msc).
This sounds to me a lot like you're thinking 'desktop application', where the MySQL database will be a simple local data store. If that's the case, MySQL is not a good choice.
MySQL is a server-class database engine. It's designed to run full time in the background as a service. This makes it overkill for a simple desktop app, and as a user I'd be mad if your simple desktop app required me to run the MySQL service.
For the kind of app I think you're building, you really want an in-process or desktop-class database. Good examples include SQLite, SQL Server Compact Edition (not Express), or even MS Access. Any of those would be a better option here than MySQL.
On the other hand, if I'm wrong and you're building a web app or an app that will be distributed to several computers that all share the same database, then MySQL is a perfectly fine choice and you should read #Femaref's answer.
If your database isn't going to be incredibly large you could go with SQL Compact. It comes with the .NET framework, and works well for smaller databases.
i have a desktop application that talks soap to a server. the communication is very slow so i want to download a lot of the data up front and query from my local database. i wan this local data to persist after the application shuts down so what is the best way for doing this . . . are there any good products / examples to do this . . there are about 25 tables that i am caching.
SQLite is perfect for this. A couple years ago I wrote a "smart client" application where I maintained a local cache so that users could still use the application offline. I used SQLite and had no problems, it is very small, persists quickly, and most modern ORMs support it. (I was using NHibernate)
http://www.sqlite.org/
Berkeley DB is a good, standalone DB. You should also consider ESENT, which is built into windows. Here's a write-up by Ayende.
The H2 database might also meet your needs. Microsoft offers a compact edition of SQL Server: SQL Server Mobile Edition. If SQL Server and TSQL is your thing, this might be a good choice.
You could always use an Access DB, usually pretty simple to ingereate with in .NET app and doesn't require any server to be installed or configured on the client.
Consider using Firebird, I believe they have a ADO.NET extension too.
I would consider SQL Server Express or even SQL Server Compact Edition, which operates on individual database files, like Access does. Despite this, it's still SQL Server.
You could also consider Apache Derby, which is used in Sun's Glassfish Java EE server.