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To answer your question specifically, NO, I would not need to have SQL Server installed on my machine (just the .Net Framework I believe). You just send me the application files (i.e. the .exe, .dll's whatever) and the database file and that's it. The application makes a database connection to the file, not to some server.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Redbeard',index.php?page=Thread&postID=185657#pos t185657
I agree with the sentiments shared on the version of Express to Enterprise. Start free and work up from there. One thing I do miss in the express version is the quick watch feature, but to each their own.
As far as sql connectivity and your question on that front, no an end user will not require SQL server to be installed on their PC. However, they will need to be able to connect to the server hosting the database. So in your case you would develop and application database on the server, and in your program access it via a System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection object pointing it to your server, database, and supplying the necessary credentials for access. You would not package your sql database and ship it to a consumer unless that consumer had a SQL server of their own and you built in the capability for your end user to configure how your application will talk to that database.
Let me know if you have any other questions. Always happy to help.
Max
Thanks for the responses, but Max and Tal seem to be giving contradictory answers, so either you guys are talking about two different things, or Im just misunderstanding.
Let me ask the question a different way, then.
I am going to write stand alone applications to send to people. These applications will likely require a database of some kind. I want to ensure that I can send somebody my executable and that theyll be able to run it with nothing else (beyond the .net framework) installed. How do I go about that?
Thanks for any insight, im probably just missing it (too many brain cells fried on WoW).
Heh sorry for the confusion. Let's try it this way and maybe it will make it more clear. Imagine we have 2 scenarios.
1. We want to create an application that tracks all sales and orders for widgets. So we will create a widget database and a front end interface of some sort. We'll just say a thick client that can be installed on a users computer. Since we have 1 database, all the applications will connect to it for their information and it will be shared across users. Bob from accounting can see Jane from sales latest purchase orders. To do this, we build into our application a data access layer that allows our application to connect to a central database server to retrieve / post data (via a connection string), and does not require anything installed on the client besides the application framework itself.
2. We want to create a custom application to allow users to track their personal finance information. (Think Quicken here) This information should not be accessible to anyone outside of the user and should be stored locally on his or her PC. To do this, we'll need to create a template database as well as a thick client to interact, but this time we're going to ship off the client as well as the database with our installation program. In order for a user to save their information, we'll have to tell the system how it's going to connect to the database and under what context. I believe this is what you are after, in which case, should you go the SQL database route, will require the end user to have a copy of SQL server (express or higher) available to them to host the database files. Having the database files alone will not allow your program to load or access the data. The server acts as the manager between communication layers (Application > Database Server > Data). Typically in this scenario, you wouldn't distribute a SQL database unless you had built it into your requirements. You'd want to use something that is more native to the environment your client or end users have available, things like Access, or a flat file format.
Does that help? If not, try these links.
http://www.developerfusion.com/artic...th-sql-server/
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...sqlclient.aspx
Yes thats very helpful Max, thank you. When I was in college one of my cs professors said to us "If any of you go into business programming, 90% of your work will involved databases". Lol I wish I had studied it more back then and I remembered more now.
You're right, #1 is something id work on in my work environment, #2 is something id look to distribute.
I read your links, that'll be helpful when I get to that stage.
So assuming I am working on #2, ill have to look into some way to bundle the software together or something like that,
Appreciate your time.
My 2 cents...
If you are going to be distributing applications that do not require a shared central data location, I would suggest investigating SQL Server Compact 3.5
http://www.microsoft.com/Sqlserver/2...s/compact.aspx
for your database needs. It is free to use and you can redistribute it. I'm not sure that you can redistribute the Express Edition of SQL Server.
As for packaging / deployment; if your app is a simple .NET app with a SQL Compact DB, you should be able to copy and paste installs. You will have to add shortcuts and program file entries yourself. Otherwise Visual Studio has a tool that will let you build simple .msi files but I'm not sure if that comes with the free version.Quote:
SQL Server Compact 3.5 is a free, easy-to-use embedded database engine that lets developers build robust Windows Desktop and mobile applications that run on all Windows platforms including Windows XP, Vista, Pocket PC, and Smartphone.
Happy programming ... how's your lua? :-P
Thanks for the comments Jafula I'll check it out.
I dont know anything about LUA so my LUA is nonexistant i guess? =) If the syntax is anything like Java / c# then I can probably understand whats going on, I just dont know how to do any modding with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by 'Jafula',index.php?page=Thread&postID=185875#post1 85875
Redbeard -
Depending on which school you went to, you may still be flagged as Active on Microsoft's Dreamspark website (www.dreamspark.com)
On Dreamspark, you can get VS 2008 Pro, SQL Server Dev, Windows Server 2008, etc. for free.
^^ Cheers & happy programming!
Regarding DB use in smaller applications:
It's worth investigating XML and serialization, the XMLSerializer in the.NET framework is very good for this and means you can hold your data in xml files - very easy to work with, highly portable, and has no DB requirement at all.
I'd recomend the Express editions over any other tool (except the pro edition) because the visual studio IDE is the best there is.
Also, if you've got plenty of disk space try setting up your development box as a virtualPC or VMWare virtual machine - this means you don't end up installing all the development crap on your gaming rig and slowing it down to a crawl... yay for virtualisation!
I have several virtual dev boxes - VB6, C++ express (with game studio SDK), c# express, and VB.net pro