F/OSS Flat-File Database?

Leemeng writes "I'm looking for a simple, free, and F/OSS flat-file database program. I'm storing info about Wi-Fi access points that I come across, maybe 8-9 fields per entry. I've outgrown Notepad. This info is for my own reference only; it is not going on a Web server. Googling was unhelpful, with results skewed towards SQL, Access (MS), and Oracle, all of which would be overkill for my purposes. My criteria are: it must be simple, F/OSS, must work in Windows Vista, preferably use a portable format, must not be an online app, and must not require Java. Does such a beast exist?"

Comments

No Java?

[jawtheshark]

I would have recommended HSQL, but you don't want Java. Frankly, usually, when we're talking databases I won't say "use a spreadsheet", but with 10 fields, you might as well use a spreadsheet. Of course OpenOffice.org Base is out, because it uses HSQL.

Something like CSQL might fit, but I have no experience with it.

Re:No Java?

[geekboy642]

Mod parent up.
This guy wants a spreadsheet, he just doesn't know it. Excel--or the free alternative from OpenOffice.org--will do everything he could possibly want, and although it saves as its own infernal file format, it exports competently into a tab or comma-delimited format.

All the extra "requirements" are just pseudo-intellectual mumbo-jumbo that have no bearing on reality.

Flat file is useless

[bluefoxlucid]

Trying to solve such an issue as a flat file is a poor design characteristic. This says "I don't want to learn SQL" or "I want the output human readable." If you just want to store information for programmatic use, use SQLite and quit worrying about data storage format. If you want it human readable, grab libxml2 (works on Windows too) and store it as XML. Decide which problem you are solving because if you don't need (i.e. it's not helpful) it human-readable and/or want the ability to search it quickly without loading the whole thing into memory, then SQLite is probably a better solution.

Re:Python?

[maxume]

Why not sqlite? Comes with Python 2.5 on Windows. It adds a relatively weighty 800k or so to my python installation on Windows, but the installation is dozens of megabytes overall, so it doesn't really matter.

Re:Python?

[fyngyrz]

Care to tell me exactly what the user of GPL software is not free to do? Otherwise maybe you'd like to retract your casual FUD-spreading aside.

I can't legally utilize GPL'd source code within a commercial application without doing some very specific (and not always possible) things that the GPL license instructs me I must do. Any other ways I can help with your basic F/OSS education? I'll be here all day.

Re:Python?

[aweraw]

Mod parent up.

IMO, the people who still, after all these years, haven't figured out how to make money with GPL software are the failures, not the GPL.

Its just a software license; it doesn't preclude you from charing money for your work, and it doesn't mandate you make your work avaiable to the general public. I can't fathom why some seemingly intelligent people have such a hard time grasping this concept.

Re:Err ...

[DAldredge]

Just tired that on Excel 2007 - it imported correctly. The three fields all imported correctly.

Re:Python?

[morgan_greywolf]

He said he wanted a flat-file database. Why, on this Earth, would he ever need "standard SQL including joins." SQL is designed for relational databases and, in particular, joins are only EVER used in a multi-table, relational database. In fact, the guy even said "SQL is overkill".

IOW, SQLite, as "lite" as it is compared to Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc. is still overkill.

I'm with the GP -- dbtxt looks really cool. Although, I do gotta say that OpenOffice.org would fit the bill just fine for what his requirements are: Calc can be used as a flat-file database, and I think there is support for simple CSV databases in Base.