DBMS: DataBase Management System

The purpose is to have a simple & small application displaying a database table , automatically updated in every change from another network user (without using SQL server) . 

MsAccess 2K

This is the easiest ^ most popular way . No programming knowledge required . The simple database tables are automatically refreshed , but some queries need to do it manually . The main disadvantage is that you cannot make executable files (.exe) with this way . That means that you have to install MsAccess 2000 to all client PC's .

StarOffice 5.2 + MSDE

I described StarOffice in another topic . It's was a freeware excellent full Office suite . I said 'was' because the later SO 6.0 and 7.0 are not freeware anymore . The GNU (open source) evolution of StarOffice is the well known  OpenOffice . The main 2 limitations of OO vs SO are : 1) OO does not include something like a Personal Information Manager (like Outlook) .   2) OO does not include any database solution (like Access).

SO 5.2 (the last freeware version of SO) has a nice database GUI (like access) with table , query & report manipulation and offers as a freeware database engine a limited version of Adabas D . Don't know much about this but anyway don't use it because in this freeware package it's limited to 3 users . The best well known alternative I found is the freeware MS SQL engine: MSDE or MSDE 2K . You will find it anywhere . All MSDE versions have database size limitation to 1GB but it's not big problem is it ? .

I test SO 5.2 together with MSDE 1.0 (SQL 7.0 compatible freeware SQL server) co-operating via ODBC platform and works great . I understand that the installation is not as easy as installing Access , and the report generator and all these stuff are not as enhanced as they are in MS Access  but this is totally freeware and more stable solution than Access (.mdb files are not encouraged to be used for over 10-15 users) . 

Visual FoxPro 6.0

I tried in past to use a browse command for multi-user purposes in many languages but I didn't succeed . Now It seems to work OK using Visual FoxPro 6.0 ( from MS Visual Studio 6.0 Pro Edition) . 

This is a very basic & simple program utilizing VFP's browse command . This tiny program is able to view & edit a database table in a multi-user environment without having to use any SQL or MS Exchange server . You must use Visual Fox Pro for further database actions or develop a more sophisticated application .

The source: 6 lines are enough !!.

SET EXCLUSIVE OFF
SET DATE BRITISH
SET DELETED ON
SET REFRESH TO 4
USE DATA SHARED
BROWSE

Download:

- VFP Browse: (6 KB). The source & the program ...

- VFP Runtime dll's: If you didn't install Visual Fox Pro, then you must install VFP runtime libraries . I do not know the distribution file name so the only way I know is to install a free program that includes them: Download & install Mp3Man32 (FULL version) . 

- VFP's DBU: (14 KB). Another cool program by another person emulating the old DBU program . Written in Spanish (i think so) .

Clipper 5.3b

I was searching for a tool (or trying to making one) capable for managing a small Database over a multi-user network . The purpose is to have a small application displaying a database table , automatically updated in every change from another network user . So far I was trying something with dBASE III+ , dBASE IV , Xbase 1.1 , FoxBase , FoxPro , Ms Access 97 . None of them could make something FAST . The only solution I found is the dbu.exe came with Clipper 5.x

DBU is a Dos DBMS, capable of managing .dbf (dBASE compatible) relational databases . It's a single Dos .exe file so it can fit anywhere , even on floppy . I test it with 386SX / 2MB Ram / Novell 3.11 through Amd K6-400 / 196MB Ram / Win9x . Works fine everywhere . Capable of a Multi-User environment so many user can access a single dbf at same time . DBU proves how hard is to die a well written program , even an Ms-Dos one which roots goes back on Clipper '87 (13 years from today) . DBU proves that a powerful program cannot be compared with a nice GUI .

I used Clipper 5.3b DBU source. Here are my changes:

Modifications
- Changed the network refresh to from 5 to 2 seconds.
- Changed date format to dd/mm/yyyy in order to solve the Y2K problem .

Download:

- DBU #1: (250K). Compiled with Blinker . Small & pretty . Should work in all cases .
- Great Tip: You can HACK the refresh rate value (sec) if you edit Hex Address 0x00073D46 .

- DBU #2: (333K). Compiled with Exospace linker . I added ipx/spx &  netbios linker packages . My 386sx / 2MB runs very slow with this . Don't ask me what's the difference with previous .exe .

If someone has in mind or made something better (mostly for Win9x) , pls e-mail to me .

Michael