what to use for full compatibility

[vma]

Hi all,
So I have this question: I wanna start an aplication that will be distributed to a lot of clients and I suppose that will be a lot of Windows versions. That application will need to have a data base in the back. What should I use as a database, other than txt files :) to be sure that I have full compatibility on any system?
Thank you!

[Shuja Ali]

Hi all,
So I have this question: I wanna start an aplication that will be distributed to a lot of clients and I suppose that will be a lot of Windows versions. That application will need to have a data base in the back. What should I use as a database, other than txt files :) to be sure that I have full compatibility on any system?
Thank you!
You can have lot of options, the ones that I can suggest are

MS SQL Server --
Oracle --
MySQL -- This one is open source and free, although I have never used it myself but I see lot of Java guys using this.

And remember all of these are centralized database servers

[vma]

Thank you Shuja Ali but I think I was not clear enough :)
Not all my clients have a connection to the internet so it must be something local. Everyone has it's own data base. And most of all I need something that can be installed in the same time with the aplication and one that I don't need license for it. Something like the ODBC or DAO drivers. I'm not sure if these drivers are present on all windows machines or if they can be installed with the aplication.

[exterminator]

Thank you Shuja Ali but I think I was not clear enough :)
Not all my clients have a connection to the internet so it must be something local. Everyone has it's own data base. And most of all I need something that can be installed in the same time with the aplication and one that I don't need license for it. Something like the ODBC or DAO drivers. I'm not sure if these drivers are present on all windows machines or if they can be installed with the aplication.So you are saying the database is not centralized but is part of each of the desktop application? Regards.

[vma]

Yes, each client has it's own data in the data base and has nothig to do with the other clients.

[Shuja Ali]

Thank you Shuja Ali but I think I was not clear enough :)
Not all my clients have a connection to the internet so it must be something local. Everyone has it's own data base. And most of all I need something that can be installed in the same time with the aplication and one that I don't need license for it. Something like the ODBC or DAO drivers. I'm not sure if these drivers are present on all windows machines or if they can be installed with the aplication.As far as I know you can redistribute MDAC alongwith your applications. And you don't have to worry about the License.

If you are using VB 6.0 then you can easily deploy MDAC with your app using Package & Deployment Wizard.

[vma]

I was thinking about VC#. Does C# has something like MDAC? Or MDAC it self. And most of all If I redistribute the version made with the setup from my XP system I doubt will it work on windows 95, 98, ME. Then I have to make another setup on a Millenium system?

[Shuja Ali]

I was thinking about VC#. Does C# has something like MDAC? Or MDAC it self. And most of all If I redistribute the version made with the setup from my XP system I doubt will it work on windows 95, 98, ME. Then I have to make another setup on a Millenium system?I am not sure about WinME, but it should work on all other systems. Thats what I feel about Win 95. But on 98 & 2K you should be able install whatever you packaged on XP.

C# uses ADO.NET and I think if .NET Framework is installed on the target system where you want to run your application, then you don't need anything else. I doubt if you can use Windows 95, although I am not sure. You can check the system requirements of .NET Framework prior to deploying your application.

[vma]

Right... ! I will make a simple sample first and intall Framework on several systems to try it out. I totally forgot about Framework and now that you rememberd me it seems logic that framework has everything built in.
Thank you! Again ;)

[exterminator]

You can also have a look at one of the XML based database systems. They could also prove helpful. I don't have a very good idea about their performance given the quantity of data is huge or the data has complex relational features, and if that is the case you might want something like Oracle or MS SQL server, without a doubt ;) . But, when platform becomes an issue - only one keywords strikes my mind - XML.

Apache Xindice (http://xml.apache.org/xindice/). Regards.