Which is Better DBISAM or FlashFiler?
Antonio Yu
FlashFiler? Or, are there any other similar software out there that is
available? Your comments and experience (of using the products) will
really help.
Thank you.
Antonio Yu
Ben Oram
They both have their strengths. FlashFiler is a client server engine
geared towards transactions, data integrity, and light use of network
bandwidth. FlashFiler is an economical (no royalty), non-SQL replacement for
Interbase, Advantage C/S, or Apollo C/S.
DBISAM is a desktop (shared-file) database that could server you well as a
replacement for Paradox or dBase.
For me, I require absolute data integrity while serving 1 to 50 users.
FlashFiler was a good fit for me. Your needs of course could be quite
different.
-
Ben Oram
Antonio Yu <t...@sovereigngeneral.com> wrote in message
news:37F25155...@sovereigngeneral.com...
Derek Davidson
> They both have their strengths. FlashFiler is a client server engine
> geared towards transactions, data integrity, and light use of network
> bandwidth. FlashFiler is an economical (no royalty), non-SQL replacement for
> Interbase, Advantage C/S, or Apollo C/S.
Yeah, yeah. OK. But what does FlashFiler do, huh?<vbg>.
I'm guessing that your first description applies to DBISAM and the second one
applies to FlashFiler.
Derek Davidson
Certified Inprise Consultant (Delphi)
Tekmetrics certified Master Delphi Programmer
Personal Web Site : http://home.mpinet.net/derekdavidson
Ben Oram
news:VA.0000028...@derek-1.mksoft.com...
> Yeah, yeah. OK. But what does FlashFiler do, huh?<vbg>.
I admit my bias, I was a customer before I became a TPX'er for FlashFiler
<g>. (Sounds a bit like the hair club for men slogan <sigh>)
> I'm guessing that your first description applies to DBISAM and the second
one
> applies to FlashFiler.
?? No, I don't believe so. Last I knew DBISAM was a shared file database.
This fact alone introduces additional network traffic, and stability
concerns. While it should still be able to run quite reliably there still is
a high risk of data loss when a "client" disconnects during a write, or a
server suddenly goes off line.
As a user of FlashFiler for a number of years I can say I have never
experienced any data loss or corruption on our shipping systems. This
includes small, and quite large applications with dozens of simultaneous
users.
-
Ben
Sanford Aranoff
are SQL compliant?
Ben Oram wrote in message <7strsm$34...@forums.borland.com>...
Tim Sullivan
stable and well supported client server database system. It has support for
both ISAM and SQL style data access, is _very_ fast, and has the best
support staff I've ever dealt with.
Also, it allows you to distribute a "local" (non-client/server) version of
the database server, free of charge.
Tim Sullivan
Unlimited Intelligence Limited
www.uil.net
nhuhta
The answer depends on your needs.
Flashfiler is a non - SQL client server database. It is not as fast as
Paradox but is more secure because of its client server features
transactions ). We found flashfilers database implementation to be a little
quirky. Also, flashfiler requires a windows PC to be running the server
process.
For small setups 1-10 users we have been using DBISAM. DBISAM is flat
out the best Paradox replacement out there. DBISAM is more TDataSet
compliant than Flashfiler. It has good transactions and recovers from
crashes very well. DBISAM's speed is also excellent.
For larger setups 10+ users, we have been using an SQL database.
Neil Huhta
Profit Monster Data Systems L.L.C.
Edwin Lau
news:7stuig$35...@forums.borland.com...
> Without SQL, it seems useless. What can you say about databases that
> are SQL compliant?
>
Well, SQL isn't the only way in which you can 'talk' to a database. It is a
way but not the only way. You can do well with filters, ranges and other
ttable/tdataset calls.
I know that to interact using SQL might be an easier way of communication
and it does have it's perks but for some of us, we do use very simple
database
structure and for several applications there was no need to use Queries at
all.
And it works just as fine.
--
Edwin Lau
AbleSoft Productions
http://www.ablesoft.nu
Edwin Lau
can say one is better than the other.
Flashfiler is definitely great for Client Server implementation
but it lacks the SQL features within the main application itself,
however there will probably be some 3rd party SQL implementations
which will work with Flashfiler.
DBISAM is a multi-user database engine. It is great for single
user implementation and what I am most impressed about it supports
multi-threading. I actually had a small application which would update
and add thousands of database entries from two applications to the
same database using a for next loop and DBISAM reported no errors
but Flashfiler on a single-user implementation did not pass the test.
Flashfiler although not a Multi-tier database implementation, but it
suits alot of applications within a LAN or WAN environment pretty
well since it can use TCP/IP as a transport mechanism. DBISAM
lacks in that area, but I use DBISAM to implement my own ISAPI
and CGIs which does the job beautifully, it is clean and neat.
So it is difficult to say which is better, it would really depend on
the environment.
--
Edwin Lau
AbleSoft Productions
http://www.ablesoft.nu
Paul Loht
> out the best Paradox replacement out there. DBISAM is more TDataSet
> compliant than Flashfiler. It has good transactions and recovers from
> crashes very well. DBISAM's speed is also excellent.
I agree with you, I use DBIsam in several commercial apps and have had
absolutely no problems. But DBIsam is more than just a Paradox replacement,
it is also eliminates the need for the BDE. After using DBIsam, the thought
of going back to the BDE makes me cringe. ( Sorry Borland, No Offense, I
Still Love Delphi )
Paul Loht
Frank Rocco
Regards,
Frank Rocco
Antonio Yu
This is the reason we are looking into a different database available. With MS
Access, there are a lots of problems (BDE, ADO, DAO, ODBC combination) when
deploying the application.
Thank you.
Antonio Yu
Paul Loht
In a word: YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
One of the beauties of dbisam is the zero deployment. The database utility
that ships with the components actually allows you to generate code to
programatically create the tables. So what I do in my apps is on startup
check for the existence of the tables, then create them if necessary. That
way, all I need to distribute is the single exe.
Paul Loht
Antonio Yu <t...@sovereigngeneral.com> wrote in message
news:37F38230...@sovereigngeneral.com...
Antonio Yu
Antonio Yu
Vincent Parrett(VSoft)
>Antonio,
>
>In a word: YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
>
>One of the beauties of dbisam is the zero deployment. The database utility
>that ships with the components actually allows you to generate code to
>programatically create the tables. So what I do in my apps is on startup
>check for the existence of the tables, then create them if necessary. That
>way, all I need to distribute is the single exe.
>
I have just started using DBISAM in the last few weeks, so far so good ! My
only concern, which no one here has mentioned, is the lack of referential
integrity. It does require some coding on your part to implement. For
example, I have one table/filed that is used as a foreign key in 16 other
tables. The only way I could enforce RI was to write code for 16 sql
statements to do the cascading updates/deletes etc. At the moment my tables
are quite small and performance is still quite good (DBISAM makes good use
secondary index's), however Tim assures me that it is as fast as any
internal RI would be.
Other than that, I have no complaints, performance is excellent, it's very
stable (haven't found a bug yet!) and it compiles right into the exe.
Support is good, usually get a reply within a day, which considering the
timezone differences is fine.
They are planning a C/S version and an ODBC driver later this year. I don't
know how many users the current version can support, however I suspect that
like in all file based databases, 25 would be the upper limit and very much
dependant on the capabilities/performance of the network.
Regards
Vincent Parrett
VSoft Technologies Pty Ltd.
Web : http://www.vsoft-tech.com.au
Email : vincent AT vsoft-tech.com.au
Rumen Lilov
>only concern, which no one here has mentioned, is the lack of referential
>integrity. It does require some coding on your part to implement. For
>example, I have one table/filed that is used as a foreign key in 16 other
>tables. The only way I could enforce RI was to write code for 16 sql
>statements to do the cascading updates/deletes etc. At the moment my tables
IMHO DBISAM is designed to be as stable as possible, hence the lack
of RI. I had a bitter experience with Paradox (VAL file out of date)
and gave up long time ago using RI but hand coded it instead.
RI is simply something that is stable only in C/S environemnts
Best regards
Rumen
Tim Young
<< IMHO DBISAM is designed to be as stable as possible, hence the lack of
RI. I had a bitter experience with Paradox (VAL file out of date) and gave
up long time ago using RI but hand coded it instead. RI is simply something
that is stable only in C/S environemnts >>
You are entirely correct, after seeing the kind of problems that you can run
into with path names, etc. when trying to use RI with file-based database
systems such as Paradox, we decided to not implement it in DBISAM. However,
we still may give it a shot later on after things quiet down with other
developments. <g>
Tim Young
Elevate Software
www.elevatesoft.com
Rob
> Tim Sullivan
> Unlimited Intelligence Limited <<<<<<<<<<< OH THAT'S GOOD!
sorry tim...couldn't resist!
L. S. Lichtmann
Sanford Aranoff wrote in message <7stuig$35...@forums.borland.com>...
>Without SQL, it seems useless.
Hardly useless. While I have a strong preferences for databases which
allow me to use SQL, if I had to do a multiuser network app for which I
wouldn't be permitted to use an industrial-strength RDBMS, I'd choose
FlashFiler over, say, Paradox in a heartbeat.
> What can you say about databases that
>are SQL compliant?
>
Such as? My first choice would always be InterBase, SQLServer, or something
which is a true relational db supporting SQL. However, sad to say, it's not
always possible to convince a customer to spend the additional money for one
of these systems despite the fact the the per-seat cost has now gotten down
to the range of a typical office application.
Tim Sullivan
> > Unlimited Intelligence Limited <<<<<<<<<<< OH THAT'S GOOD!
>
> sorry tim...couldn't resist!
LOL! You know, no one in the online world has ever commented on it before.
Sometimes when I order something over the phone, or visit the bank (a rare
event now that I can use the internet to do everything but deposit the
cheques... :-) ) people often snicker or laugh out loud (which was, of
course, the point. The original name was Intelligence Unlimited Limited, but
the government wouldn't let me do it).
You've just made my week. :-)
--
Tim Sullivan
Unlimited Intelligence Limited
Dimethylaminoethanol for your software
http://www.uil.net
Eddy Poullet
data security. Perhaps an expert can generate code automatically for
this purpose.
Eddy POULLET
Jamie Burks
licensed coyp of any MS development tool. All the info is on MS's web site.
In actuality, MSDE *is* MSSQL7.
Jamie Burks
L. S. Lichtmann <conda...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:7t5ghp$5h...@forums.borland.com...
Markku Nevalainen
>
> Check out MSDE, MSSQL7's free little brother. Free, that is, if you own a
> licensed coyp of any MS development tool.
Free, yes but, but...how about the distributing.
I'm quite convinced, that you are not able to post here any snippet
from some Microsoft's Copyright text, that says that you also have
right to distribute MSDE with your Delphi apps.
Maybe not even a work-around, legally qualified, how to do that.
Markku Nevalainen
Torry
> ?? No, I don't believe so. Last I knew DBISAM was a shared file database.
> This fact alone introduces additional network traffic, and stability
> concerns. While it should still be able to run quite reliably there still is
> a high risk of data loss when a "client" disconnects during a write, or a
> server suddenly goes off line.
But you always could use DBISAM in combination with ASTA
(www.astatech.com) and decrease traffic. For me, DBISAM is perfect
solution and I'm switching from Btrieve to it.
--
Best regards Maxim Peresada
"Torry's Delphi Pages"
mper...@glas.apc.org, to...@iname.com
http://www.torry.ru/index.htm
http://torry.magnitka.ru/
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http://torry.blocks.co.jp/
http://www.snc.ru/~torry/
http://www.torry.css.pl/
ICQ Pager: 4711092
"Torry's Delphi Pages" on CD-ROM - http://www.torry.ru/cd/cd3.htm
Franz-Leo Chomse
wrote:
>Jamie Burks wrote:
>>
>> Check out MSDE, MSSQL7's free little brother. Free, that is, if you own a
>> licensed coyp of any MS development tool.
>
>Free, yes but, but...how about the distributing.
MSDE is designed to work best with less than 5 users, i.e it slows
down if more than 5 users are using it.
MSDE can be distributed if you have a appropiate M$ development tool,
which means the Enterprise version of VB or VC or the Office
Development Kit.
Regards from Germany
Franz-Leo
Jamie Burks
All the info is on their web site somewhere. BTW - MSDN does qualify, at
least from what I can tell.
Jamie
Markku Nevalainen <m...@iki.fi> wrote in message news:37F8F...@iki.fi...
> Jamie Burks wrote:
> >
> > Check out MSDE, MSSQL7's free little brother. Free, that is, if you own
a
> > licensed coyp of any MS development tool.
>
> Free, yes but, but...how about the distributing.
>
Markku Nevalainen
>
> MSDE can be distributed if you have a appropiate M$ development tool,
> which means the Enterprise version of VB or VC or the Office
> Development Kit.
that you can freely distribute MSDE with Visual Studio 6.0 written apps.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/MSDE/
> With MSDE for Visual Studio 6.0, developers can:
> Build solutions that migrate seamlessly to SQL Server 7.0
> on the same code base.
> Distribute solutions built with MSDE for Visual Studio 6.0
> royalty free.
Delphi is no way a development tool you'll find from inside Visual
Studio 6.0 package.
I think, you can try to buy any app from MS, but the licence that comes
along does not say, or allow, you to freely distribute MSDE alone, with
your Delphi application.
Well, maybe, if you bundle in your distribution package also some VB app
that must have a meaningful DB related role (not just some screen saver)
to act with your app, then you maybe can include MSDE also.
If anyone has found some tiny printings from MS licence agreements that
say something else, I would be interested to hear.
Markku Nevalainen