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Our company is upgrading all work computers soon and no longer supporting MS Access. Unfortunately, a lot of important database is stored in a plethora of Access databases with many differing styles of interfaces. Storing it all on a database server is out of the question. What is a good portable (non-server) database system that I can use?
The one I'm leaning toward is SQLite, but I'd also like to be able to write interfaces to query the data. If I use SQLite, what is a good way to write a query interface that will work on a lot of Windows machines natively?
EDIT: Data migration will not be a problem. I'm more worried about interface migration. What is a good way to write a query interface for one of these portable database systems?
EDIT2: It seems that there's some confusion as to what I mean by "query interface". I don't need a complete query system. I'm simply looking to create a simple frontend through which I can search the Database by table and by fields.
Judging by the title of your question, you are concerned about what database (i.e. data container) should be used in place of Microsoft Access. However, viewing your question and the ensuing answers and comments, your greater concern is actually what to use to design the Application/user interface, what you are referring to as the "query interface".
Here's a couple things you need to realize:
1) SELECT queries allow you to extract data from a database. However, the data has to get into the database somehow. At no point have you specified whether or not your so-called "query interface" is also used for data entry. If it is in fact used for data entry, as I suspect it is, then you should concern yourself with how your going to design your "application", not your "query interface". Data entry often requires a certain amount of guidance and logic that is defined outside of the database. This logic includes (but is not limited to) things like validation rules, input masks, parent child relationships that are enforced by the GUI design. This is essentially an application, not merely a "query interface". Applications are usually designed to make data entry easier than having the user enter data directly into the tables. But even here you must realize that ultimately a user can't even enter data directly into a table without some type of application GUI, whether that GUI is something you've designed or not.
2) Microsoft Access is a Rapid Application Development (RAD) tool that allows you to quickly and easily design and save queries, forms, and reports. It appears to me that you're real question is, What RAD tool other than Microsoft Access can I use to develop queries and forms for viewing and entering data in small desktop databases? And what database would you recommend we use together with the RAD tool you're recommending?
Assuming I've properly defined your actual question, allow me to give my own viewpoint on this question. First, as has already been pointed out in another answer, as long as the clients are running MS Windows, you don't really need to move away from using Access/Jet/ACC as your database (data container, the part that holds the tables). As long as MDAC is installed an Access database should be "machine readable".
It seems to me the more important question here is what RAD tool should you use in place of Microsoft Access? After you answer this question perhaps it will help you answer the first question, of what database should be used. In answer to this question, let's be honest. While Microsoft Access has it's shortcomings, you probably won't find any other RAD tool that allows you to so easily create Forms for data entry. FileMaker Pro is one of the only competing products that I know of.
Yes, you could use Visual Studio .Net to create .exe runtimes. These runtimes can include forms for viewing and entering data as well as reports. I think you'll find that the learning curve is pretty major, especially if you are not yet familiar with ADO.Net which is very different from DAO or ADO Classic. If you want to give your users ways to create their own queries/filters or reports you'll have to design this functionality into your GUI since Visual Studio doesn't give you the easy wizards and design tools you'll find in Microsoft Access. While Visual Studio is far more powerful than MS Access, you need to realize that the development time for even the simplest of applications is probably going to be much higher, especially when you are first learning.
Are there any other RAD tools you could possibly use? I know little if anything about the different design tools listed here but this might be a good place for you to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rapid_application_development_tools#Desktop_Rapid_Application_Development_Tools
SQLite is a great option and will extend your reach to many platforms beyond Windows (iOS, OSX, Android, etc.). I recommend this. If you want to keep using Microsoft products, SQL Server Express or Compact Edition is another possibility.
Another solution, depending on what you are doing with these databases, would be Microsoft SQL Server Compact Edition which does not require an installer.
No matter what database you choose, you are going to be faced with migrating your queries to a different dialect of the SQL language (the actual syntax of your queries). They all have their quirks and features (and missing features). That is just the nature of the beast. It should be noted that you can still access a MS Access database in code without requiring the installation of MS Access.
It appears that the nature of the question has changed dramatically since it was originally posted. The question has apparently morphed into one about finding an user interface development environment that has similar features to Access. This is obviously an entirely different question than finding a replacement for Access (or specifically Jet for those anal retentives in the audience) as a database engine.
There are many alternatives and it depends greatly on whether you wish to continue with a Windows application or whether you wish to move to a browser based interface. Given various comments, it sounds like you may still want a Windows based solution. A couple of solutions you might investigate:
.NET Windows Forms - The .NET environment is incredibly powerful and provides for very rapid development. IMO, as rapid as Access if you know what you are doing and far more powerful. However, with those additional capabilities comes additional complexity. No question that jumping into Windows Forms from pure Access development will be daunting but rewarding.
Another solution, which I admit to not having tested myself, but looks promising is Kexi + SQLite which is geared as an open source replacement for Access.
If you considered changing gears and switching to a browser based approach, there are again many choices. PHP, ASP.NET (MVC and not), Ruby and so on. As with Windows Forms, switching to browser based development from Access development will be a daunting change but also rewarding.
Of course, if the PHB are eliminating Access as a cost cutting move, you could split the existing Access databases to Front-end/backend applications, migrate the backends to SQL Server Express edition (free) and have the users use the MS Access run-time (also free) You, the developer, are the only one who actually needs a paid-for full version of Access.
This response comes long after the question was posted--but Google still turns it up near the top of results for 'replace ms access'
You should include MySQL and PostgreSQL on your list of the potential replacements. MySQL supports AUTO_INCREMENT columns, so it might be a better replacement for the Microsoft databases. Also, Microsoft SQL Server Express might be not a bad option. I migrated from using MS Access databases to using MS SQL Server Express in my apps when I was using Microsoft technologies about 10-12 years ago.
I have to develop a new (desktop) app for a small business. This business currently has an Access database with millions of records. The file size is about 1.5 GB. The boss told me that searching on this DB is very slow. The DB consists of a single table with about 20 fields.
I also think the overall DB design isn't great. I thought to use another DB server with a new design to improve both performance and efficiency.
Considering this is a relatively small business, I don't want to spend much for a DB license, so I want to ask you what would you do.
Continue to use Access, maybe improving and optimizing the DB in some way
Buy a DB server license (in this case, which one?)
? (any idea?)
Things like SQL Server Express, MySQL and PostgreSQL are available for free, no license purchase necessary.
For improving search speeds, you will probably also want to look at things like what indexes are defined for the table, what exactly searches are doing, et cetera.
2nd the recommendation for Firebird. We've been using it for about 5 years and never had an issue. Cross platform, embedded & server deployments... brilliant. Oh, and Free as in Beer. Mozilla Public LIcense.
Put me down as another recommendation for Firebird. We use it with our commercial Point of Sale product. We have it installed at over 1,000 sites, with databases as large as 40+ Gigabytes. It's fast, stable, simple, easy to deploy, and requires no management.
Your could replace the Access Database with a SQL Server database that will scale well moving forward. You can use SQL Server Express which is free and supports databases up to 4Gb I beleive.
SQL Server Express. Free for database size up to 10 GB.
SQL Server Express is a perfect fit for this. http://www.microsoft.com/express/database/
I warmly recommend MySQL. Its sometimes free and is easy to install on both Windows and linux.
There are also a lots of great free tools to manage its content like tables, users, indexes etc...
I would look into if the big table needs to be broken up into smaller ones(rarely needed, but still) and also what indexes are on it. And for Database software I would recommend PostgreSQL. It is free, easy to use(and I consider it easy to setup, though others beg to differ), and it is fast enough for enterprise applications.
You can take a look at Firebird
Firebird is one of the best database for desktop application and will allways be free.
Some tools exist to convert database from access to firebird.
I also recommend Firebird.
Its key advantages for your scenario are (from top of my head):
embedded version. You can ship it with your application - no separate installation kit needed, no .NET dependencies etc.
later on you can scale seamlessly to the full client-server model. No code changes required.
very small footprint
the entire database is stored in a single file. Much easier to deploy compared with other solutions.
you can have your server on any platform you want: Windows, Linux, MacOSX etc. Of course, you can have your client also on the same platforms but since you mentioned Access, I suppose that you have a Windows application.
no need for server administration. It just works.
I recommend PostgreSQL as well (especially as an alternative to MySQL)
No-one ever seems to mention it, but Oracle also do a free-as-in-free-beer version of their database: Oracle Express Edition (aka XE). It is limited to 1 CPU, 1GB RAM and 4GB of user data but that sounds plenty big enough for your application.
As for your database design, just one table sounds more like a spreadsheet than a database application. Probably you have lots of denormalised data. Splitting those out into smaller de-duplicated tables might well speed up certain queries. However if you only have twenty columns there may not be a lot of scope for tuning.
As for recommendation, the question is, which products do you know? If you have a familiarity with Access then I suggest you try to optimize your existing database. I have worked with Access databases which store several million rows and they performed well enough. After all, there is no guarantee that moving the same design to a different product will automatically make things run x times faster. Another advantage of Access as a tool is that it comes with a built-in front-end tool. If you move from Access you may need to think about re-building your application.
Wow, folks have a lot of platform recommendations for you.
Let me just say this.
If you feel like there are design issues as well as platform issues, why not try the design changes first? These are changes you are likely to make anyway.
If they make no performance difference in Access, you are no worse off, since these changes improve maintainability on any platform.
Then you can try other platforms with the knowledge that you have a solid design, and that you have not wasted any time.
SQLite can also be a candidate.
I would recommand not going with express anything - yep your small but what if the busness takes off and need much higher loads in the future - surely thats the way you want it to go ?? do not want to have to switch db layers / run 2 ..
I would look at MySQL or Firebird (used to borland interbase) both very high quality.
I'm using delphi for years, but never for database stuff, but recently started researching and testing.
I must say, i'm impressed, most of things happens automatically, i'm used to write by hand in php and python.
i'm going to develop a commercial system for a friend, (2 layers) 5 user computers, 1 database server.
Database server will be a decent machine with (raid-1) 2 hard drives running (MySql5.1 or Postgre or Firebird, open to suggestions).
ADO
Easy to use
Easy deployment (only mysqlconnector installer)
The slower?
DbExpress
Need to ship 4 files [dbxconnections.ini, dbxdrivers.ini, mysqldll, driverdll]
The more complex (harder to use)
ClientDataSet add complexity, but looks really useful
No free Postgre driver?
Zeos
Easy deployment (1 dll)
Easy to use
As you can see the desired features are:
fast
easy to use
easy to deploy
I can't test all in a real scenario (clients, server), so i hope that you guys with experience can help me out in which one to choose and why.
EDIT: Thanks everyone, i think i will go with ADO (probably) or Zeos
Thanks in advance
Arthur
#arthurprs, for you scenario
(2 layers) 5 user computers, 1 > database server.
alt text http://www.techsolusa.com/images/firebird-logo-64.gif The Firebird RDBMS is a very good option , because is very stable, fast, runs on Linux, Windows, and a variety of Unix platforms and meet with you requirements.
alt text http://d.yimg.com/kq/groups/12858579/homepage/name/homepage.jpg Respect to the components for connection i go for ZEOS.
I have used this combination in many small and medium projects, with excellent results.
I have worked on many commercial high volume systems using ADO without any problems. Deployment is relatively simple since its included in the OS. Since it has such a wide audience, most of the major issues have been identified and corrected. Getting help with ADO connectivity is very easy. The database support is very deep (connectionstrings.com) which make supporting additional database engines almost trivial (you may need to still install the client drivers, but that would be the same for almost any solution).
Performance isn't much of an issue, it really will come down to database architecture and engine selection.
id have to say im rather happy with NexusDB but the cost for the client/server versions might not be worth it.
it works client/server or fully embedded, simple enough you can have both in your app and switch between them, depending on your clients needs
the embedded DB is free,
client/server "Priced per developer" is AU$ 500
No cost per install.
Oh yeh and its written in delphi ;)
I'd say to go with Firebird - is the most used database engine in the Delphi land (see here). For connectivity perhaps is better to go with Zeos (free) or DBX (if you can afford the Architect version - the only one who has the Firebird driver in it).
About ADO: Mature connectivity layer but it will be (forever - most probably) tied to Windows while Delphi will go cross-platform. Also, yes, it tend to be the slower one because of many reasons, including the ODBC drivers which are used in certain situations. But in your case, of course, as skamradt says, I don't think that it will matter so much.
Although I have read people not liking the idea of mixing the two, I have had good results using ADO Datasets as a "provider layer" which then feeds the data into TClientDataSets - so there's no reason you can't use ClientDataSets if you go down the ADO route if you find you need them (and they are useful).
Otherwise, I would echo the comment that ADO is a tried, trusted mechanism that isn't going anywhere. I've always found it more than fast enough. And configuration using UDL files is nice and easy.
dbGo (ADO) is more simple to manage, more universal, more slow
dbExpress is more fast, more complex to manage, supports less DBMS's
ZeosDBO is simple to manage, universal like dbExp, slow like dbGo, cross-platform, has few additional components, all sources are accessible
There are few other libraries, resolving all above doubts, although all of them are commercial products. But there I am biased :)
We have used postgreSQL using Devart pg components with great success in medium sized database apps.
We did some limited benchmarking with this combination and found it 2-3 x the speed of using ADO etc.
-- Data access components
I too favour the combination of TClientDataset and ADO. Had worked with it in past and I can say it's trustful. The flexibility of TClientDataset is a big gain. DBExpress is good too.
Actually, I use clientdatasets with pretty much any data access layer that have an TDataset descendant...
-- Server
Firebird. Free and easily usable from OLEDB (I used with ODBC) and DBExpress (D2010+ have native DBX driver) - don't know ZEOS, but I believe that it also connect to FB.
Scale well to many connections and big databases. There are databases on Firebird with 500Gb and many users reported.
I am creating a desktop app in Delphi and plan to use an embedded database. I've started the project using SQlite3 with the DISQLite3 library. It works but documentation seems a bit light. I recently found Firebird (yes I've been out of Windows for a while) and it seems to have some compelling features and support.
What are some pros and cons of each embedded db? Size is important as well as support and resources. What have you used and why?
I'm using Firebird 2.1 Embedded and I'm quite happy with it.I like the fact that the database size is practically unlimited (tested with > 4 GB databases and it works) and that the database file is compatible with the Firebird Server so I can use standard tools for database management and inspection. Distribution consists of dropping few files in your exe folder.
Simultaneous access from multiple programs is not supported but simultaneous access from multiple threads is (as long as you ensure that only one 'connect' operation is in progress at any given moment).
I have used SQlite3 for a lot of projects (but from C/C++ and Objective-C). It's extremely small -- no dependencies whatsoever -- database is in a single file.
It's the db of choice for Mac developers because it's directly supported by CoreData and on the iPhone -- so there is a big user base (not to mention all of the other users).
I've been using SQLite (via DISQLite3) in FeedDemon for several months, and I highly recommend it - it has been extremely fast and stable. As Javier said, the docs for the library may be thin, but the docs for SQLite itself are very good.
I've used DBISAM on a number of projects. It is completely embedded without even a need for an external DLL. Unlike the others you listed it is commercial. A lot of great features though and very well documented and supported. The have a successor to it that I haven't tried yet though.
Let's see, quick comparison:
SQLite:
dynamic typing in the database
cross-platform files
runs on Windows, Linux, Mac, etc.
public domain
supports transactions
relies on file system security, does not include own security
Firebird embedded:
strong typing in the database
not all SQL datatypes are supported
cross-platform files
Firebird embedded only runs on Windows
Files from Firebird embedded are in the same format as the full server version
Files from Firebird embedded can be copied to a non-Windows server for use
available under a modified MPL ("what's ours is ours and must remain free, what's yours is yours and you don't have to release it")
supports transactions, triggers, etc.
MySQL embedded:
support for SQL features depends on file format
(IIRC) cross-platform files
GPL unless you pay royalties
runs on Windows, Linux, Mac
incredibly popular with the open source crowd
Even embedded databases have their strengths and weaknesses. You'll need to weigh those strengths and weaknesses against what you're doing to decide.
Firebird embedded is our #1 choice because with no code changes, a single user Delphi app with embedded database can be migrated to a multi-user server based deployment without sacrificing any of the high end features (such as stored procedures, triggers, views, etc.). And its a TRUE free database and doesn't GPL your code in the process.
Strongly recommend to use AnyDAC when working with Databases and Delphi - then you can choose to target FB or SQLite seamlessingly.
My preference would be for FB for embedded apps.
Tom
I use Sybase's Advantage Database Server, but I'm also the R&D Manager, so this post is biased. :)
We have native Delphi TTable and TQuery components for both WIN32 VCL and VCL.NET. Direct table access in addition to SQL support makes Advantage unique among many of the other Delphi offerings. Advantage supports large tables (only limited by the number of records, 2 billion) and has a free local engine, which is nice for development PCs and for small customer sites that don't require client/server functionality. Switch to client/server with a single connection property, no other changes.
We have a ton of clients so accessing the data outside of Delphi is also very easy (.NET data provider, ODBC, OLE DB, PHP, Perl, JDBC, etc).
Main Product Web Site: http://www.advantagedatabase.com
Developer's Web Site: http://devzone.advantagedatabase.com
It really depends what you need. For single-user applications, Firebird Embedded or SQLite are probably best choices (and price is right). On the other end, if you need support for large number of multiple users, you should probably use regular Firebird instead of Embedded version (server is simple to install so you won't have much problems here).
And if you need something in between, for a moderate multi-user application, one of flat databases would be better. I found that ComponentAce's Absolute Database better choice for my needs than DBISAM, NexusDB or VistaDB.
It leaves relatively small footprint (no DLLs), it's a single-file db (a must for me), supports Unicode, BLOB compression, crypting, and technical limits seem impressing for a flat database. Moreover, support was good in few occasions when I needed it.
For cons, I have noticed it doesn't support nested transactions, but other than that, I had no problems.
As for size, nothing beats SQLite.
when you refer about lack of documentation, i guess it's doc for DISQLite3. The SQLite docs are quite complete
Take a look at NexusDB. Have used very successfully in the past.
The problem with (embedded) firebird is, that the database cannot reside on a network drive. Also, it is difficult to have a database on a read only drive (CD/DVD).
For some hacks around these limitations see the Delphi Wiki:
http://delphi.wikia.com/wiki/Firebird_tipps
NexusDB offers the full range from embedded, to full client/server / remote. Also SQL2003 compliant, I believe. I'm using it on a few projects, and am very pleased so far, and the fact that it can work in such a wide range of "scales" is a big plus (not having to learn another DB for scaled-up apps, etc).
Look at this embedded database comparison: http://sql-db.cz.cc/, it can be helpful. Most of abovementioned products are presented there: Advantage, DBISAM, Firebird, MS SQL Server, and much more: Accuracer, Apollo, ElevateDB, NexusDB, TurboDB.
I am partial to Component Ace's Absolute DB. Although a commercial product ($), it is solid, easy to use, small footprint and well documented. If you are looking for a huge multi-user application, this is not the way to go, but if your multi-user needs are light (or non-existent) this is a solid option.
I'm using SQL Server Express and the ADO components. Works great. You can run the SQL Server Express install with commandline to hide the complexities from the users. You can also distribute a database that you load by filename. There are millions of SQL server users so solutions to any problems are easily found in the intertubes :-)
I did a websearch to find a fast database package for my Delphi Application. I wanted it to be completely contained in the executable with no external DLLs or libraries required. I originally found Accuracer by AidAim. They had posted how fast their database was and even gave comparisons with other similar packages to “prove” their point.
I wanted to believe their claims but I thought I’d search the web a bit more to find timings of other packages. I was very surprised to find a post at the Delphi discussion forums where a person asked what database to use, and there were 14 different suggestions. One of the responders had done his own timing comparisons and had found Accuracer to be quite slow compared to several others, which Accuracer had (conveniently) left out of their own comparison page.
The post, plus additional followup web research by me, led me to lean toward DISQLite3, a product based on the Open Source SQLite program, but with enhancements to work in Delphi very quickly, with very small overhead, and with command-based calls - which I like. It is actively under development and will soon have an official Delphi 2009 version, although apparently the current version will work under D2009.
Addenum: DISQLite3 Version 2.0.0, released Nov 17, supports D2009.
I know MS access is a comparatively crap db (and expect to be shot down in flames here), but if only small data is needed it may have advantages if ms office is used anyway. For me it was a way to store program data with more flexibility than csv files which is a common approach for scientific code.
You can create an access db from delphi code without having ms office installed using ado & odbc driver (might be necesary to have an initial .accdb file without tables to copy from then populate, I can't remember this detail. not sure licensing situation doing this.
The .accdb extension can be changed to something else & the file password protected (to a limited degree) so its not immediately obvious to users its access if that's desired.
I know a few commercial developers do this method & copied it myself. Found it easier to setup than sqlite, but maybe because I'd already used ado & access in the past.
I have used ScimoreDB. It has its quirks as they give it royalty free and it has its quirks in data types and with some installation issues. This was on a C# project.
If embedded is an absolute must, look at DBISAM.
kbMemTable is a good candidate. Runs in memory, fast, multi-threadding. Used to be free.
Components4Developers
I have used DBISAM and kbMemTable on different occasions.
What I like about DBISAM is that it has great features, and is usually very reliable. I have used it in large databases, full-text search, read-only mode, CGIs and many other situations.
It is fairly large compared to kbMemTable or SQLite based components, though. And you can't have a single file per database (or even table) - depending on the situation, that is a major disadvantage.
kbMemTable is tiny and it's great for small amounts of data. Since it runs in memory, it has to be a small amount of data, of course.
One other option I've taken on a couple of my desktop apps is dumping the data directly from/to my object hierarchy using TWriter/TReader. This is by far that smallest option, and is absurdly fast compared to using a database. The data files are tiny, too.
It has all kinds of drawbacks, though - you have to code versioning in if you might want to ever add/change fields, unless it's in-memory it is even more complicated, no multi-user support at all, etc.
Firebird embedded is our #1 choice as well. And the suite Unified Interbase v2.0 with it. A great and stable solution!
I have a database that I have to record 5 field data for every 20 sec for 10 days.. 3 field are integer , 1 field is double ( time ) and 1 field is string[5].
I am still using Delphi6 srv2 because of my components. Newer delphi versions are terrible at components that I have to spend thousands of dollars of money to rebuild my component library. Therefor delphi 6 is still best for real commertial applications that never version of delphis give many problems. At many points such as USB or comport readings so on... they release newer ones before previous versions never sit on market.
I have setup a code with Delphi6 what appends 43200 records at a table for test because I will deploy the table in application while it has 43200 records. I will shown all the data on DBChart.
Test result is below databases filled the tables by insert command with 43200 records
Dbisam = 34 sec,
ElevateDb = 11 sec,
AbsoluteDB = 45 sec,
SQLlite = 32 Minute,
Firebird = 12 min,
MSSQL12 localDB = 28 Minute,
Easy table = 8 minute,
BDE = Blocked ,
I havent tested oracle , blackfish , sysbase, nexsusDb etc.. but it seems they will also very slow. I have connected with DBChart and only elevateDb and absoluteDB has loaded 43200 records on DBchart in exceptable time such as 7~10 secs. Other all taken minutes. So slower databases always needs coding tricks to succeed in some real jobs..
I have tested their search speed as well by locate command that unfortunatly the server based databases are always slower in.
MSSQL and SQLLite3 are extremely difficult to manage in to delphi that they made me very tired.
These are my test results
At the end I decided to use AbsoluteDB, Dbisam and Elevate. I have thrown the rest off the PC .
Elevate software doesnt support recno function that requires extra codes at runtime to manage. This makes the database slower Other bug is with Elevate software is autoinc fields. There is no way to reset it . Therefore I have not chosen the Elevat software even it is the fastest database. They say many good functions but how many of them we use it in fact . They just left the most important functions not supported but fixed many many unnecessary functions. and it seems since 8 years there is no any advantage either.
If you want to see with your own eye pls just try and see..
I am thinking between two now absolute DB or DBisam4
Firebird all the way. Does pretty well everything and so far version 2.1 is very solid.
FireBird offers the opportunity to scale up to multi-users sometime down the line, or if you need concurrency (if your application goes multi-threaded).
SQLite is quite unrivaled if you only need single-user access, no other database comes close to it on any aspect, be it performance, convenience, SQL support or stability.
Firebird is really awsome and has a small footprint so you can use embedded
and it can be scaled upward for many users
and does unicode faily well
I use devart components with delphi 2009
and FIB plus for delphi 6/7 (their version for 2009 and unicode is not ready yet too bad)
Hmmm, no one has recommended the BDE - I wonder why that is ;-)
BlackFishSQL is another possibility, although I haven't tested in depth as yet.
when it comes to embedded databases the first question is : is it multiuser ?
Actually,who needs a database that does not allow multiple connections (read&write) to it ?
I have tried (intensly) all mentioned databases and found only one that actually functions the way it should. And that is Accuracer.
The only pity with accuracer is that its a three man band and chronic lack of proper support. It also is mainly static in development as we have seen no real features in years.Not surprising since only one person actually develops it. It seems they are living on old fame. Users praise reflect that (usually 10 years old comments).
For a single user experience I would recommend Absolute Database.
As for major players I would recommend SQL Server from Microsoft. Oracle has become a bloatware and is slowly dying out.
ps
what is nice in accuracer is that their embedded database functions just like full blown server. It locks only current record if its in use while the rest functions normally. Nice database. Pity only it is stagnant.
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Consider the need to develop a lightweight desktop DB application on the Microsoft platforms.
It could be done fairly easily with MS Access but I'd like to be able to distribute it to others and I don't want to pay for a runtime license.
Requirements:
easy distribution to others
no runtime licensing issues
Considerations and Candidates:
Base from the OpenOffice suite. My concerns were around its stability.
MySQL + writing custom DB code in C++ or Python or whatever seems like a rather heavy-handed solution.
Question: What are the low cost or free database alternatives to MS Access?
See Also: Open Source Reporting Engines
#Schnapple
Bruceatk kind of hit on what I'm thinking of; it's not so much the DB engine as I want the other niceties that Access brings to the party. The nice form designer, the nice reporting engine etc. But you do raise a very good point about the installation footprint. I had considered that but I've not made any firm decisions about which way I'm going with this yet anyway. It'll probably be something fairly lightweight anyway and a small installation footprint would definitely be a plus.
#Remou,
No I was unaware that the MS Access 2007 runtime is free; thanks for pointing that out. The last time I'd bothered to investigate it (I don't remember when it was) I think it was a fairly expensive license for the runtime because I think they were trying to sell it to Corporate IT departments.
And thanks to everyone else who responded as well; I was completely unaware of those other options you all pointed out.
When people ask about a replacement for Access, a lot of them only think about the database, but what they are really asking about are all of the other features in Access. They usually don't care what database Access is using.
Some of the functionality provided by Access are: Forms, Query Building, Reports, Macros, Database Management, and some kind of language when you need to go beyond what the wizards provide.
SQLite, MySQL, and FireBird are free database back ends. They do not have those additional Access functions built into them. Any free alternatives to Access require you combining something like SQLite and a development language.
Probably the best free option would be SQLite and Visual Basic 2008 or C# 2008 Express Edition. This would have a heavy runtime dependency, so installing on a bare client could take quite the installer.
There really isn't a non-Access option for free with minimum runtime requirements. I wish there was.
I'll be interested in hearing if anybody knows any good alternatives.
Are you aware that the Access 2007 runtime can be downloaded for free?
Links for newer versions:
2010 Runtime
2013 Runtime
2016 Runtime
Schnapple asks:
Are you referring to the concept of a
free database to distribute with an
application, or an Access-like "single
file, no installation" database?
Er, nobody who has any competence with Access application development would ever distribute a single MDB/ACCDB as application/data store. Any non-trivial Access application needs to be split into a front end with the forms/queries/reports (i.e., UI objects) and a back end (data tables only).
It's clear that what is needed here is a database application development tool like Access. None of the database-only answers are in any way responsive to that.
Please learn about Access before answering Access questions:
Access is a database application
development tool that ships with a
default database engine called Jet.
But an Access application can be
built to work with data in almost
any back end database, as long as
there's an ISAM, or an ODBC or OLEDB
driver for that database engine.
Microsoft itself has done a good job of obfuscating the difference between Access (development tool) and Jet (database engine), so it's not surprising that many people don't recognize the difference. But developers ought to use precise language, and when you mean the database engine, use "Jet", and when you mean the front-end development platform, use "Access".
One thing to keep in mind here is the MS Access product is much more than just the raw database engine. It provides a full application development platform, including form and menu designer, client application language and environment (VBA), and report designer. When you take all those things together, MS Access really has no peer.
But for the scope of this question, we're concerned with the raw database engine. With that in mind:
SQLlite,
Firebird,
VistaDB (not free),
SQL Server Compact Edition (not Express)
and now SQL Server LocalDB
all come to mind.
Another thought: while the original question does ask about desktop databases, its likely some people will land here looking for a database to use with a web site. It's important to remember that these are all in-process databases, and as such are rarely if ever appropriate for use on the web. If you want to build a web site, where it's common to need to support significant concurrent access, you generally want a database server engine, like MS SQL, Postgresql, MySQL, Oracle, or their brethren. At the same time, those server engines are rarely if ever appropriate for a single-user desktop application.
To be honest - there aren't any free alternatives to MS Access. At least if you mean database development tool (forms, reports, queries, VBA support etc.). If you think about MS Access as a database engine (you mean MS Jet or ACE in fact) then yes - you have a lot of possibilities. There are a lot of free database engines - the most popular are MySQL and PostgreSQL. I can recommend both - it depends what you want to do.
For writing database frontends C++ is one of the worst choices. You should consider MS Visual C#, MS Visual Basic .NET or... Even Java/Swing (if we are talking about desktop application). If you think about the web-enabled frontend - consider PHP (with MySQL or PostgreSQL on the backend) or ASP.NET (with MSSQL Server at the backend).
I strongly recommend you not to use C++ for such job. This language is very efficient and flexible, but advanced database frontend development with C++ is not the best idea. C++ is great in system programming, games development, maths and physics simulations, everywhere where efficiency is the key - like real-time applications etc. Frontends don't have to be daemons of speed - they should look nice and have advanced end-user features (like sorting, coloring etc.). If you are looking for free tools - maybe C# Express or Visual Basic.NET Express 2008 would be the proper choice? Or maybe Java/Swing (check the NetBeans IDE)? Maybe SharpDevelop? But not C++... Leave C++ for the things it suits the best.
Check out suneido.
I made a fairly complicated GIS app as an experiment with it some years ago (database, complex gui, reports, client/server). It was a pleasant experience (apart from some documentation issues...) and I became productive with it very fast.
I don't use it anymore mainly because:
it's not really general purpose
it's not cross platform (windows only)
I decided to stop exploring exotic
technologies and specialize in something
more mainstream.
Of the Free Software alternatives these haven't been mentioned yet:
Bond
Rekall (not sure about the status of the Windows version currently though)
Glom (Windows version under development)
I'd also keep an eye on what DB RAD tools the Flex/Air community is coming up with, since with those tools it's possible to get unified desktop and web interfaces.
Oracle XE With Application Express.
Has a nice web based gui,
Is a "Real" database
Will scale beyond a single desktop
Offers a clear scale path beyond a small team
Applications as web based, easily accessible.
Can convert Excel spread sheets into Applications
The issue is finding an alternative to MS Access that includes a visual, drag and drop development environment with a "reasonable" database where the whole kit and caboodle can be deployed free of charge.
My first suggestion would be to look at this very complete list of MS Access alternatives (many of which are free), followed by a gander at this list of open source database development tools on osalt.com.
My second suggestion would be to check out WaveMaker, which is sort of an open source PowerBuilder for the cloud (disclaimer: I work there so should not be considered to be an unbiased source of information ;-)
WaveMaker combines a drag and drop IDE with an open source Java back end. It is licensed under the Apache license and boasts a 15,000-strong developer community.
NuBuilder (www.nubuilder.net) might be right.
NuBuilder is a GPLv3-licensed PHP web application that requires MySQL as backend database. Users and programmers both use the web interface.
They promote it as a free, web based MS Access alternative.
I'm creating my second NuBuilder application these days. The NuBuilder seems to be very actively developed, and I found it stable and well documented (provided you can stand video tutorials.)
You may want to look into SQLite (http://sqlite.org/). All depends on your usage though. Concurrency for example is not its greatest virtue. But for example Firefox uses it to store settings etc..
In the context of a programming forum, we don't usually think of the programmer also needing the application portion of the database. Normally a programmer wants to use their own development environment for the business logic and front end, and just use the store, query, retrieval, and data processing capabilities of the database.
If you really want all those other things, then you're talking about a much larger and more complicated run time environment. You're not going to find anything that's 'lightweight' any more. Even MS Access itself no longer qualifies, because it's hardly light weight. It's just lucky in that a lot of users might already have it, making it appear to be light weight.
This doesn't mean you won't find anything. Just that it's not likely to have the same level of maturity or distribution as Access, especially since the underlying access engine is already baked into Windows.
The Access runtime license has never been all that expensive -- the cost for the developer tools/extensions has been around $300 as long as I can remember (which would be as far back to the Access 2 Developers Toolkit, or ADT), but that gives you the ability to distribute your app with the runtime to an unlimited number of users. As long as your runtime app was used by three or more users, you'd have been saving money (assuming a cost of $100/user to install a full copy of Access).
The runtime for Access 2007 is completely free, but really, the cost before that was not all that great.
Marc Gravell added (in what should have been a comment, in my opinion):
Being free, though, is certainly an encouragement for people to try it out which the $300 price really would have discouraged.
VistaDB has an express version which is free to use and is syntax and driver compatible with SQL Server. VistaDB is a single file and only requires their driver .dll to work in your asp.net or winforms project.
Since it is syntax and datasource compatible you can upgrade to SQL Server if needed.
from their site:
VistaDB is a fully managed and
typesafe ASP.NET and WinForms
applications using C#, VB.NET and
other CLR-compliant languages.
VistaDB.net
You mentioned Python, have you considered Dabo?
http://dabodev.com/
That would avoid much of the grunt work in a custom app.
Are you referring to the concept of a free database to distribute with an application, or an Access-like "single file, no installation" database?
As in, things like SQL Server Express Edition require things like runtimes to be installed, databases to be created and mounted, entries on people's Start menus that they won't recognize (my wife asked why SQL Server was on her laptop the other day) whereas an Access database can be run in a single file.
I guess what I'm asking is do you want to think of the database as a document you write to or as an instance of something on someone else's machine?
What about r:Base? Way back in the day r:Base was a very robust DOS (then Windows) RDMBS and this is pre-Access / pre-Paradox days. Its closest competitor was dBase but that wasnt fully relational, at the time. I developed some very nice r:Base applications AND, like Access today, had a built in report generator, forms facility, queries and table manipulation.. To my surprise, its still alive! http://www.rbase.com/ Its got all that access offers, it seems. Might be something for you to consider.
Kexi 2007.1.1 may be what you are looking for.
Its express version is free but DB size limited. Full version cost $72.
The description from its home page:
Kexi is an easy to use application for visual database design for Linux and MS Windows. Kexi competes with MS Access, FoxPro, Oracle Forms and FileMaker.
Visit http://www.kexi-project.org/about.html for details.
Apache Derby is a nice db alternative.
Gambas
Much in line with Aurelio's answer, I now work in Ruby on Rails on some applications that I might formerly have done in MS Access. The back end database for a Rails App. is usually, MySql (works well enough and is available on most shared Web hosting) or PostgreSQL (the better choice when possible).
What about Microsoft's Visual Studio Express?
http://www.microsoft.com/express/default.aspx
SQL Server Express is also at that link...
I'd the same problem of you. I had a MS access application but I wanted to go to a web application accessible to everybody and without paying money to MS. So I decided to use MySql and Wavemaker (open source) to get the scope..I'm very happy of this decision. and that's the result http://www.mara-database.org/
Also check out http://www.sagekey.com/installation_access.aspx for great installation scripts for Ms Access. Also if you need to integrate images into your application check out DBPix at ammara.com
What you appear to be looking for is not just a database program, but a database with forms, reports, etc (basically an IDE of sorts). I would recommend trying OpenOffice.org Base, which comes with the office suite. It's free and open source. It's nowhere near as polished as access, but it does pretty much the same things.
Plus, if you know access, it will be at least somewhat familiar.
http://www.openoffice.org/
EDIT: Sorry, failed to read that you are considering OpenOffice.org. With regard to stability, I've had it crash and do some "odd" things when I played with it, but Access has done the same thing. The best way to find out is to play with it a bit and see if it suits you.
I think the database included with OpenOffice.org has the form designer in it. I've never tried writing code for it though. A forum post I saw had a link to a tutorial they said had some code in it.
I started to set up a database for my wife and the interface was coming out pretty good as far as I could tell.
oooForum.org tutorial
for sqlite, check out the firefox extension. It offers a serviceable GUI.
VistaDB is the only alternative if you going to run your website at shared hosting (almost all of them won't let you run your websites under Full Trust mode) and also if you need simple x-copy deployment enabled website.