RDBMS Rage

ph00dz: that'd be Open Office http://www.openoffice.org/product/base.html.

Ahem. I've downloaded the latest OpenOffice on my Windows machine and given the database a cautious poke. This time it is letting me create and edit tables. So I am going to cancel my slavering rampage of frustration and just keep going with this until I can't any more, whereupon I'll give another one of the suggestions a try. Thanks, MeFites :-)

...cooling down, going to try some of the other suggestions... GRAR.

Thanks everybody. I'd like to assure you that I do know what a database is for, and that I am not mistaken about wanting to use one, even though it's going to be a small one. Flat files aren't adequate for my purpose because I want to do a lot of complex querying. The OpenOffice suggestion looked good. I remembered that although I'd failed with OpenOffice's database app in the past - I can't remember why since it was a few years ago - it obviously must have been updated since then, so I eagerly opened it up to try it. Turns out I only had to jump through a few hoops to get it started http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/FAQ/Platform/Mac_OS_X_10.6 and was able to open up a new db for editing after only about 20 minutes. So I happily created a test table and tried to add - oops, try again - oops, it's read only, maybe I have to grant myself permissions.... no, that's not it... It turns out to be because it doesn't have a primary key http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=5884 despite my having created one several times over, and I don't seem to be able to create one and make it stick despite saving the table over and over and over and over and over. This is the point at which I usually decide it's not worth it and give up. I mean, if I can't even create a sodding primary key, why would I bother to keep trying? Even if I get past this, it'll only break the next thing, and the next. I would rather be able to create a primary key and have it stay created, and then be able to edit my table, without having to keep on looking up the reasons why I can't do these things. "Perhaps you could try being a lot more specific? What exactly didn't work? What did your experienced friends say was the problem? Going by the different package names, you've tried this on Windows and Mac, and possibly other computers, but every time, you had problems so serious that, not just the Apache/PHP/MySQL combination, but PHP itself just plain didn't work?" Ambrose, I see your point, but I don't have access to the computer my friend was working on (it was a work computer from a previous job) or indeed to the friend, who probably wouldn't remember anyway. And when I tried it at home, it was before I reformatted the hard drive. On my Mac (with XAMPP), I can't reproduce the problems because none of the logins I try are working and I'm not motivated to try any more. So I can't remember what was causing the problems (even if it had been completely clear) nor reproduce the fault. In any case, solving one error would invariably just cause another error to pop up somewhere else. So if I seemed to solve one problem it would just pop up again somewhere else. This has completely killed my motivation to ever deal with PHP again, despite the fact that it "just works".

I just dropped in to express my sympathy. I love dbs and find them useful for all kinds of things. But I've never managed to get anywhere with anything on Ubuntu, to get the ease of use I really loved with Access and VB. (A love affair that lasted until MS destroyed all my prior work with "upgrades" on the controls. And now, I avoid MS as much as possible, and depend on Ubuntu, as a fall slowly into dementia for want of the proper brain exercise I always got from programming).

DabbleDB http://dabbledb.com/.

If you are hand entering data, you probably shouldn't be using a RDBMS. If you want iPhone and desktop access, why don't you use an online tool like DabbleDB or Zoho Creator?

http://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-server-advanced/ It's an RDBMS designed by Apple (and since spun off into its own company, tho Apple retains a controlling stake, IIRC.) Developers who use it swear by it, and are as annoying as iPhone or Mac zealots - and for much the same reason. Everything just works, and it offers a lot of power in a pretty interface.

If you're trying to get foreign key support, or transactional service in a MySQL database, the usual method is load the InnoDB engine (or one of its clones like XtraDB), and make sure all tables in your database design are type_InnoDB when created. It's not particularly cumbersome to configure MySQL to use InnoDB (http://wikis.sun.com/display/gridengine62u2/How+to+Configure+the+MySQL+Database+Server), and the binaries are readily available for most platforms, free for home/non-profit use; no PHP configuration required. InnoDB has some performance issues that make it non-optimal for large multi-user projects, but for what you want, it's simple, and effective.