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

Python?

[fyngyrz]

Can't be Java... well, how about Python?

Here is a completely free (PD, not GPL-style "you're free to do as we tell you") database engine that will do what you have described thus far.

The database engine is about 19k bytes (not a typo), has no dependencies (other than Python itself), supports a useful subset of SQL so you can actually create flexible queries that produce well-sorted results from your database, and it works everywhere Python does, which is to say, it works pretty much everywhere. It's just as happy operating on a command line as it is on a web server. The results (the actual databases) are 100% portable from OS to OS. I use it on various linuxes, OS X, and Windows for tasks very similar to yours.

Comes with tutorial examples, sample databases and extensive docs. In a 13k (not a typo) archive.

:-)

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?

[goombah99]

You need YAML

I think is exactly what you are requesting.

Re:Python?

[ehrichweiss]

Well that assertion was a massive FAIL. I make quite a living thanks to the GPL and I know tons of others who do the same.

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?

[Facetious]

Great. Now I'm going to have to call Red Hat and tell them their profits aren't real. I always hate to make that call. Just last week I had to tell Steve Ballmer that chair!=discus||frisbee. He was pissed.

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:Python?

[moderatorrater]

I'm missing your point I believe. Or being purposely obtuse which you (probably rightfully) feel you can get away with because this is a very GPL friendly forum. BSD, MIT, etc licenses allow you to do whatever you want with the code with none of the strings that the GPL has. Your false dichotomy between GPL and closed source doesn't really help promote a useful dialog about freedom of source.

Re:Python?

[dixonpete]

There's an add-on for Firefox that makes SQlite use fairly painless: SQLite Manager. Brilliant work.

Re:Python?

[Anonymous Coward]

no he didn't. he came here for abuse.

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.

Re:Python?

[legutierr]

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". First of all, my point was that in comparison to a python-only tool like dbtxt, sqlite is probably worth the additional memory overhead of a couple hundred kilobytes.

Second, I'm not sure that you know any better than I do what the poster really needs. Open office calc might be an option, but certainly not if 800k is too much space; open office is what, like 200 megs? And dbtxt might also be an option, if doing everything in Python is what the person wants; I love Python, but there are plenty of people who don't. I'm sure that all three proposals are equally valid.

Now, to defend SQLite: in most cases, dealing with a relational database is "overkill" not because of SQL per se, but because of the fact that software needs to be installed and configured*, and because complex sets of processes need to be managed and maintained. SQLite is useful, in part, because it provides the functionality of a relational database without the complexity of the engine. Now, if you don't want or need SQL, then you might not consider that particular feature to be of particular benefit. Nonetheless, there are many situations where SQL might not be required, but where it might be useful, where in the past SQL might not have been used, but where now, because of SQLite, it will be used. There are very few cases where real-world information is not most accurately represented as relational data (in comparison to flat data). SQLite allows you to avoid making compromises regarding the way that that data is stored. And SQLite is fast.



*(Although some interpreted languages might require that sqlite's libraries be installed on a system for it to be used by a program, that is not the case for compiled languages like C, C++, Obj-C, etc., where the sqlite libraries can be compiled directly into the code distributed to end users.)

Re:Python?

[totally bogus dude]

That'd make the first one a shameful link, yes?

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.

OOO?

[iamhigh]

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 Maybe this will do? I think it meets all your needs. You can even use it with a web app if desired. Some functionality may need Java, but most doesn't. I don't know what parts of OOO are Java-driven, but I am sure somebody here does!

sqlite

[nguy]

Sqlite is used in many apps (including Firefox), it's small, and it's efficient. It also has bindings to just about every imaginable language.

I find it amazing that you didn't come across it in Googling...

Re:sqlite

[kingbyu]

There is an add-on to Firefox called SQLite Manager that makes managing your own little database quite a bit easier than typing sql commands on a command line:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5817

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.

Why are we trying to promote python?

[tknd]

He doesn't need python. He just needs a database. He can download a precompiled binary for windows that allows one to work with the database at the command line. Python is not necessary.

And if the command line is too much, as others have noted there is already a convenient firefox extension for graphically interacting with a sqlite database.

Re:Err ...

[DAldredge]

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