I have been creating a database that will handle tutor and student information. Students will be able to access information about the tutors and the database itself will be able to track the students that come in for tutoring sessions (i.e. demographic information and major information as well as attendance). I have a good database created but now I need a GUI to go with it.
Last semester I programmed window form applications in c# with visual studios (2017) and I think this would be a great application to create a GUI with for this database. I am sure there is a way to connect my database to visual studio but I am not sure the commands that would be executed or the certain steps that take place inside visual studio (adding a file? reference?).
I am looking for one of two solutions. We have sql developer available on a school network that can be accessed via IP and student user/pass. I could connect the c# application to that database, but then it would only work while i am on the campus network (which is fine because thats where the application will be used). I cannot find any documentation on how to go about this, perhaps its not possible yet.
The other solution I foresee is creating a local database on my computer for the application which would work fine as well, as long as I can use the script that I have made already, if this is the case I just need to know how to connect the C# code to the local database (I am guessing to create a local database there is an option just like there is a windows form application, it would be a local database supporting pl/sql).
Anyways I would greatly appreciate any help given. If you can point me to some documentation or explain yourself IT would be a big help to me and my final grade (and the tutoring center).
Thanks all!
TL:DR Need a way to connect C# code to database either local or on school network.
GUI:
So first off, in terms of what you should do for your GUI with C#, I would recommend WPF. It is newer and more supported by Microsoft than Windows Form Application.
SQL:
For your SQL connection it really depends on your type of database. I recommend you search the NuGet package library as there are connectors for almost every type of DB. I know .Net comes with a general connector, but personally with my MySQL DB I had the most luck with the MySQL connector in NuGet.
More Help:
Also based off of your tag oracle-sqldeveloper, I assume you are using MySQL. If you are a great C# guide can be found here. I used this and it really helped in getting me started with MySQL & C#.
Related
I'm currently trying to implement a database for my in class project. I'm collaborating with 2 other students and we're trying to use a database in our C# console application. I use SQL Express and SQL Management studio at my work but this works well for us because we host our own servers. At school we don't have that luxury. We're using github to store our source code but I'm struggling to find a nice way to implement the database in such a way that we can all work remotely and collectively at the same time while managing our database connections in such a way that all our local code will compile nicely. I'm hoping to find someone who has also dealt with this and can provide a nice solution.
Either run your DB locally (point app to localhost) or else point it to your shared DB.
i developed C# application for windows the back end is mysql database but the problem is, if i want to run it in different computer it requires mysql server software or other wise it cant open the data base. is there any way to add plugins to the s C# application or adding open source software to my installation package to run the database file. please note i'm new to C# this is for education purpose sorry for if my questions asking method is not professional.
Front end : visual studio 2013
Back End : Mysql server 2008
I dont know if i got your question right but i assume it a general Data Access Layer strategy question.
If you "bind" your application with mySQL or any other db then that's it.
Depending on the size of the application you could use open source db like SQLite It is a one file db that can be stored with your application.
If you really want to be able to use your software with many underlying DBs then you have alot of job.
THIS question in SO debates that maybe it is not a good idea or at least it is a partially good idea. Partially means that you could abstract basic db behavior to be db independent but you will not get rid off the dependencies 100%
Another good approach would be to use an ORM. Either a micro ORM like dapper or afull ORM like Nhibernate
ORMs let you do just that. You can use an OleDb provider and have access to many underlying sources at a cost of course of not using 100% the native capabilities of the DB....
I have two sql servers installed on my computer (SQL2008 EXPRESS) and also SQL2008 that comes with the specific software that we are using.
I need to make a service that runs all the time and at a specific time updates the non existing records in the SQL2008 EXPRESS from SQL2008.. can you suggest a way of doing this?
Currently the best thing I got is making a local copy in excel file, but that will result 365 excel files per year which I dont think is a good idea :)
p.s. sorry if my english is bad :)
You don't have to hand-craft your own software for that. There are 3rd party tools like OpenDbDiff or RedGate dbdiff to do that. These tools generate the differential sql that you can apply on your target database.
I'm confused when you mention Excel. What would Excel have anything to do with moving data from one SQL database to another?
The short answer is, if you need a C# service, then write a C# service that copies the data directly from one database to the other. The problem that you are trying to solve is not very clear.
Having said all that, and with my limited understanding of the problem, it sounds like what you need is a SQL job that is scheduled to run once a day that copies the data from one server to the other. Since it sounds like they are on separate instances, you'll just need to set up a linked server on either the source or destination database and either push or pull the data into the correct table(s).
EDIT:
Ok, so if a windows service is a requirement, that is perfectly acceptable. But, like I mentioned, you should forget about Excel. You wouldn't want to go from SQL->Excel->SQL if you have no other reason for the data to exist in Excel.
Here is some information on creating a windows service:
Easiest language for creating a Windows service
Here is a simple tutorial on accessing SQL in C#: http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/4416/Beginners-guide-to-accessing-SQL-Server-through-C
If you want a more formal solution (read: data access layer), I'd point you toward Entity Framework. The complexity of the project will probably be the driving factor on whether you just want to do SQL statements in your code vs. going with a full blown DAL.
I have an application (currently in foxpro) that uses about 12 tables that can be networked.
The tables are related in various ways, but not unduely complex - more like a customer ordering system
I want to rewrite it in C# using MS Visual Studio.
The Application is desktop only but with up to 5 users able to access it at any given time.
The question is which DB should I use?
It needs to be:
Easy to install with the application.
Support sharing from up to 3 or 4 computers
I have looked at SQL Express but the sharing issue looks to be fairly complex and installation for SQL on a server computer is required.
DB4O seems to be for more media rich applications.
I am fairly new to C# (and now getting long in the tooth as well) so I need this to be a reasonably painless way to achieve what I already have in Foxpro.
Some may ask why change - well, there are things that we want to be able to add in the future that would stretch Foxpro too far.
I have spent a couple of weeks researching this and now would really appreciate any help that people could offer.
My policy: If the job can be handled by SQLite (for .NET one option is System.Data.SQLite), use that. On the surface, it sounds like this can.
SQLite is [...] a self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration, transactional SQL database engine. SQLite is the most widely deployed SQL database engine in the world. The source code for SQLite is in the public domain.
Just to stir the pot a bit, if you're connected to the internet you could give a SQL Azure Database a whirl.
No server required; multiple connections not a problem; scalable; maintainable; etc. Synch it with a local database later if you change your mind. MS has a 90 day trial run which would probably suit your investigative purposes.
Downsides are well-covered elsewhere, but mainly it's that internet outage renders your app offline.
It's actually not a bad option if you're looking to get your upgrade up and running quickly.
try MySQL, i think there is an easy way to make the database shared along the network (i think it's in the installation process)
mysql... use this driver ODBC drive so that your .NET applications can connect to mysql mysql odbc driver
SQL Server Compact Edition supports multiple clients on the same machine. If you need to connect to the database from multiple computers, you should probably stick with Express Edition.
Have you considered using a Document Database rather than the typical Releationl Databases being discussed here?
One that is very friendly in the .Net space is RavendDB.
Work through this simple "Hello World" tutorial (shows some basic CRUD coding) in Visual Studio to get a feel for how it works: http://ravendb.net/tutorials/hello-world
LocalDB would be a good solution
I have deployed plenty of software to my clients. Mostly are Window Forms applications.
Here is my current practice.
Manually install SQLExpress and SQL Management Studio to each client PC.
Then use ClickOne to install the code from the server.
When there is a changes in code, I will use ClickOne to deploy -(NO PROBLEM with this step)
But when there is a change in a database column, what do I do?
I have even tried writing a database update script. Each time the program starts, it will read through the .sql update file and run them if the database exists. This solves the problem of updating the database columns, but it does not help in my DEBUGGING work when my customer complain there is a wrong data. At that point, I have to personally go to their site to check it out.
I find it difficult to have the database installed on the client PC as it make my debugging work very very difficult. I am thinking about moving my client database to a host on an Online server. But that then comes with these constraints:
What if the internet is down?
What if my customer has no internet?
Could you help to advise me? Is this a common problem faced by developer? What is the common practice out there? Does Window Azure or SQL CE help?
Depending on the data I would recommend using SQL CE.
If the data isn't too much, speed is not the primary goal (CE is slower than Express) and you don't need DB-Features not supported by CE (e.g. stored procedures) it is the better choice IMHO, because:
The client does not need to install a full SQL server (easier installation/deployment)
You do not have problems with multiple SQLExpress instances
Your SW doesn't need to worry if there even is a SQL instance
Less resources used on the client side
Additionally the clients could send you their SQL CE DB-File for inspection and you do not need to go to their site.
It is also relativly easy to implement an off site sync with SQL CE and MS Sync FW.
Installing one database per client PC can be tricky. I think you have a decent handle on how to deal with the issue currently. It seems like the real issue you are currently facing is debugging. To deal with this, there are a couple ways you could go:
Have the customer upload their copy of the database back to you. This would provide you with the data they have and you could use it with a debug copy of your code to identify the issues. The downside is that if the database is large it might be an issue transferring it.
Remote onto the customer's machine. Observe the system remotely using something like CoPilot. That way you could see what is happening in its natural environment.
There are probably other ways, but these are a couple of good ones. As for using an online database, this is an option but it brings its own set of issues with it. You mentioned a couple. As for Azure, that is cloud-based (online) so the same issues will apply. SQL CE won't help you any more than your current installation does.
Bottom line is that I would recommend you look into the ways to fix your one issue (as listed above) instead of creating a whole new set of issues by moving to an Internet-based solution. I would only recommend moving to the Internet if it was addressing a larger business need (for example, mobility). Doing the same thing you have been doing only online will probably just make life harder.
To recap the comments below since they are so pertinent to the issue, if you are choosing between file-based databases that don't need to be physically installed on the machine, your best choices are probably between SQLite and SQL CE. Microsoft supports SQL CE better but it is a larger package and has less features than the trim SQLite. Here is a good discussion on the differences:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2278104/sql-ce-sqlite-what-are-the-differences-between-them
However, the issue gets more complicated when you start looking at linq2sql since that is designed for SQL server. Microsoft does not support SQL CE with linq2sql out of the box, although there is a work-around that will get it to work:
http://pietschsoft.com/post/2009/01/Using-LINQ-to-SQL-with-SQL-Server-Compact-Edition.aspx
SQLite is not supported at all with linq2sql but there is a way to use linq to talk with SQLite:
LINQ with SQLite (linqtosql)
This library also supports other common databases including MySQL and Firebird.
You could use the SQLCMD utility to execute the change script, as mentioned in this related question