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Off topic: Good, inexpensive database
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Posted by Jack Crawford
Oct 3, 2009 at 08:41 AM
I want to build a collection database with a lot of customised fields.
My logic was that I would build the database structure in DBOasis. Depending on useability and whether I needed additional functionality, I would then either keep it inside Oasis or export it to Access.
It’s a to-do project so I can’t answer any questions yet about the Oasis product. What attracted me at the time of purchase was that building a database structure seemed very straight forward and user-friendly.
Jack
Posted by pereh
Oct 3, 2009 at 10:18 AM
Jack Crawford wrote:
>I want to build a collection database with a lot of customised fields.
>
>My logic was
>that I would build the database structure in DBOasis. Depending on useability and
>whether I needed additional functionality, I would then either keep it inside Oasis
>or export it to Access.
>
>It’s a to-do project so I can’t answer any questions yet about
>the Oasis product. What attracted me at the time of purchase was that building a
>database structure seemed very straight forward and user-friendly.
>
>Jack
I tried to build a database for my library. However, the project came to an early end after I had set up one table for the Author and one for Books, then tried to link them with ‘Author’ being used as index. DB Oasis does not support table linking. Filemaker does. But Filemaker starts at $299, and can become very time consuming when used extensively. Moreover, Filemaker does not support double-clicks an a field, so one has to mark a field and click an associated button to start an action.
Posted by GeorgeB
Oct 3, 2009 at 11:26 AM
May I suggest databases Alpha Four and Open Office Base. My work computer uses Windows so I use Alpha Four and the home offiice computer operates under Ubuntu Linux so I use Open Office Base. Alpha Four may be found at http://www.alphasoftware.com/AlphaFour/ . gB
Posted by Achim
Oct 3, 2009 at 11:36 AM
Hello alltogether and especially Steve Z.,
I’m here as a reader for some years but now there’s the chance for a first post (maybe my english is a bit clunky - I’m german).
Few days ago I stumbled upon
http://www.brilliantdatabase.com/
and it seems that it is not yet mentioned here.
Had not much time to fiddle around with it but here’s what I found out so far:
+ starts at 79,- (One can obtain a free license for translating the UI into a yet missing language.)
+ supports various types of links & relations
+ uses forms instead of tables
+ provides calendars & diagrams
+ supports scripts
+ database size up to 4 GB
+ supports rtf-fields (important for me as a writer)
+ exports to Access, Word, Excel, Webpage, Email and various text formats
+ imports from the same - plus Outlook and various database formats
+ displays forms and records in a tree
+ supports attachments (up to 64 MB each)
+ seems pretty stable so far
+ continuous development (current version is 8.3)
I hadn’t yet the time to test it with big amounts of data, but performance with the sample databases seems OK
o it’s even a bit more geeky than Ultra Recall but also much more flexible - and more convenient than Access or FileMaker
- interface is not on the stylish side
- drag & drop could be more developed
- can create standalone databases (exes) but only in the sdk version - for 1500, $ :-(
- no user forum (at least I didn’t find one) but lots of tutorials, videos, samples and a good help-file.
- weak outlining features (only through the forms tree)
- no mind mapping features
- afaik no dedicated feature for web-capturing (maybe it’s possible with some workarounds, scripts or whatever)
- no compression (besides compacting)
- no indexing (but convenient search-features)
All in all I would say it’s a very interesting desktop database.(errors excepted :-))
best regards
Achim
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Oct 3, 2009 at 11:58 AM
I was also about to suggest the Alpha range of products. Alpha Four was originally a DOS product but version 8 is designed specifically to work with Windows XP, 2000 ME, 98 and 95. I used it extensively in the ‘90s and at the time it was the most user-friendly database I had found for the relational power it offered.
The contemporary product Windows is Alpha Five. It is a very powerful product which according to many provides the easiest way to build web applications with virtually no programming. It has a theoretical price of several hundred USD; I say theoretical because it is constantly being offered in ‘unique’ deals and offers which mean that you’ll pay no more than $99. (Stephen, you may contact me for a link to such an offer). The current version is 9, with 10 about to be launched, which is offered as a reason for the discount, yet I’ve been getting such offers since early 2009 or even before.
In my view, with such power offered at such price, it does not make much sense to buy a ‘flat file’, i.e. non-relational, database for more than $30-40. Alpha Five even provides a user-friendly front-end to SQL databases—as may InfoQube as well, but my SQL comprehension is limited.
That said, there are out there some low-cost or even free solutions that may well suit your needs. Oasis may be one, as may the Open Office database. Another is File Amigo http://www.fileamigo.com which has a free version.