off-topic: are there any better file-server DBs than Access?

  • Thread starter Thread starter VMI
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VMI

I'm storing mailing address data into an Access table and there are some
queries that are taking too long even when run in Access (ie. "select top 20
* from audit where Line > 0 order by Line asc"). This mostly happens when
the table has 300k+ records (a few may even have up to a million). The
reason we didn't use SQL server or Oracle (besides price, which is a major
factor - using an MDB is free) is that many of our clients have several
users (over 20 users) and each one has an entirely different list of mailing
addresses (our application used to store the data in txt format so we
replaced it with an mdb-most still think it's a txt file because we name the
mdb so it has the same extension it had before). Also, I can't guarantee
that all PCs will be connected to a network, so we would have to assume that
all PCs will need some server DB installed.
Anybody have any suggestions as to what we can do to replace Access?

Thanks.
 
First, MSDE is free.

Second, have you created an index on the Line field?

S. L.
 
VMI said:
I'm storing mailing address data into an Access table and there are some
queries that are taking too long even when run in Access (ie. "select top 20
* from audit where Line > 0 order by Line asc"). This mostly happens when
the table has 300k+ records (a few may even have up to a million). The
reason we didn't use SQL server or Oracle (besides price, which is a major
factor - using an MDB is free) is that many of our clients have several
users (over 20 users) and each one has an entirely different list of mailing
addresses (our application used to store the data in txt format so we
replaced it with an mdb-most still think it's a txt file because we name the
mdb so it has the same extension it had before). Also, I can't guarantee
that all PCs will be connected to a network, so we would have to assume that
all PCs will need some server DB installed.
Anybody have any suggestions as to what we can do to replace Access?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Well, i don't think there are any other file-server databases left out
there, as it's a way too outdated technology, i think.

You put some concerns why you don't use "real" client server databases,
so here's what i can tell you:

1. Price - look at MySQL database, which is well known in Europe,
modern, comparably fast, actively developed and supported and FREE
database engine.
www.mysql.com

2. There is an embedded version of MySQL which you can include into your
program, making it a client-server in one


Hope it helps
Andrey
 
Would I need to install MSDE on every PC? Can I automatically install it?
The problem is my application automatically creates the mdb file and the
tables. Would I have to add the MSDE isntallation to my program installation
wizard?

thanks.
 
MySQL is not free for commercial apps and I don't think that would work well
in your situation anyways. The MSDE would need to installed on every
computer and you would need the free redistribution license. Another option
that I really like is firebird. It seems to be really fast and reliable.
 
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