What is the best newbie database app?

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1

I need to build a database to track some information.
I am a novice, which would be usable for a newbie?

Suggestions?

What about Calligra, Sqlite, Firebird, or MySql-workbench?

Thanks for the input.

2

Here running Firebird 3.0 on openSuse13.2 and Tumbleweed.

see here and select desired version
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/mkubecek:/firebird30/

As to newbie friendly , well, once you have the server running and permissions set
you can write your programs to send data to the database you created.

Firebird itself does not come with gui tools , but you can do anything
on the command line and there are good drivers like fdb for python
and others.

3

The gui tools would be kind of important. Any other thoughts?

MySql-workbench has some missing dependencies and will not install. Any workarounds?

4

Depends on what kind of data you’re using and the application accessing the data.

So, for some people
Simply storing the data in a text file is sufficient, can be a couple columns (or even comma or tab separated).

The next step up from a simple text file (which many apps use, don’t laugh at that), a spreadsheet is a popular way to store data since they often come with sorting and query tools. The data must be flat and “de-normalized.” There are whole industries built on apps that are built on spreadsheets, and MS Excel is one of the most popular way for non-technical executives to analyze data.

If you need structured relational data, then apps like MySQL are popular and are the bedrock of powerful line of production apps. A lightweight version that supports relational database concepts but is stored in a simpler file is SQLite.

There are also NoSQL databases like MongoDB that can provide much of the power of traditional relational databases like MySQL but without fixed database schemas which make them more flexible for various uses, particularly for queries (which often have different objectives than line of production apps).

There are key-value pair databases which are useful for their high performance and simplicity, although usually run purely in RAM some also can have disk-based backing.

So,
As you might see there are a great many types of databases that can store and perform a great many ways, even for small apps (the examples I mention). I didn’t even start to mention examples of these types of database that can scale up and out for large data-intensive use.

When you say you need something to “track some information,” the details and size would affect an optimal selection… How complex is the data? How many simultaneous users? Deployed on a limited resource device or a desktop or a larger server? Running only on one machine or a distributed application where different parts of your app might be running on different machines? Is this a simple, personal app or an app to be offered to others, maybe even commercially? What coding language app is your app written in, and are there pre-built database connectors or middleware to simplify how your solution is built?

And there may be more considerations when you select something to be your database…

HTH,
TSU

5

Thanks for the reply.

I am managing a sports club. It contains 3 teams. I am currently using a spread sheet, but it is a monster and really need to build a relational dB. I am tracking personal information, inventory, player stats, player equipment, fund-raising, summer camps, prospects and expenses. Over the past couple of years it has gotten too complex for the spread sheets.

Initially it would start as a single user database that would allow me to better manage the team.

Stage 2 is to place a web based portal on line that could be accessed with permissions for player or coach input. I would like to limit access based on passwords.

Anymore information you need, please let me know.

6

Hi
I would suggest using LibreOffice then (sqlite I think?), at least for the integration for any reports and such, form letters etc can be pumped out on writer and calc.

7

For the sorts of things you eventually want to do MariaDB is your best option, not least because it allows you to limit access to database table columns which is going to be essential for player/coach access. I am not aware of a non-SQL which allows this option.

If you have a WordPress, Drupal or Joomla! website, you might be able to use CiviCRM as the basis for your web portal - they all rely on mysql files and so you could import whatever you had developed.

8

I have installed MariaDB. What would you recommend as a gui tool? frontend?

Heidi? dbForge?

MySQL-workbench won’t install, missing proj dependency.

9

do you know anything about Navicat?

10

Hi!

What about phpMyAdmin (( https://www.phpmyadmin.net/ )exist as a package in Leap42.1))? It does solve some things as a gui för sql. I also recommend as malcolmlewis above to use Libreoffice Base and Calc for reports.

regards

11

Am assuming that databases and coding is completely new to you, you have minimal or no knowledge how to configure and code, and this may be the first time you’re setting up.

Assuming you want to do as little work directly in the database and frontend as possible, I would <strongly> recommend the approach john hudson recommends, with modification.

You first need to define exactly what you want so that you can search effectively.
The type of solution you’re actually looking for is a Customer Relations Management system, typically abbreviated CRM. Although most people think of CRM use for sales forces, the management of your people, the people they interact with, tracking the interactions and planning, project management and more is common to a lot of uses including yours.

The next step is that there are many “canned” CRM solutions that are very specific to particular uses, so those you <might> avoid because you want the ability to customize the solution to fit your use.

There are solution platforms you might want to give strong preference, because those frameworks simply set up a foundation, typically a web frontend and a database backend. The advantage of these solutions are that they provide all the setup, and underlying plumbing for the website in a simple script setup which avoids a tremendous amount of work. Examples of this are Drupal, PHPnuke and zillions more. Here is a Wikipedia list
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_content_management_systems

Here is another guy’s list of CRM info
http://www.hlrnet.com/intcms.htm

Key standard features you can expect in all these solutions, almost all contribute to the idea you probably won’t have to write a bit of website code or database code. Depending on your data, <maybe> you won’t have to touch your database directly, also.

  • Built-in multi-user security. This means that individual employee/workers and customers can login to the website and see appropriate content, content can be personal or for groups in your organization.
  • Theming is pretty standard. Select a theme you like and suddenly the entire website might have a different layout and has different colors and fonts.
  • Many will support WYSIWYG, which means that you, your workers and support staff can typically modify, add, and manage the website content including data in the database through web forms and don’t require special installed software.
  • Widgets of all types for everything you can imagine on a web page which might range from simply visual effects to functional work, accessing or inputting data and much, much more depending on the maturity of the platform.

You will also find that better CRM platforms have a storefront of modules which can easily be snapped on to your base platform, which means Although the following is the store for a CRM platform that runs only on Windows, skim through it to get an idea what kind of things you should look for other platforms. Everything you see is something that can be snapped in, unless the module is for Development it probably is something you won’t need to write any code yourself. Note that there are things for free and there are things that cost. The same would probably be the case for other platforms.
http://store.dnnsoftware.com/

Recommended steps for becoming familiar with these platforms and selecting…

  • Above all, review the project history. Like all open source software, it’s very important that there is a large community behind it and that the code is constantly reviewed, maintained and integrated contributions. Avoid anything that has been inactive for more than… 6 months?
  • Install something fairly early on, maybe in a virtual machine just to gain some understanding and familiarity. Although there are large differences how each project might install, in general most try to make it as easy as possible. Today, the better platforms involve these simple steps…
    • Install dependencies, typically a LAMP or similar.
    • Download into a directory
    • Configure a configuration file to ensure security
    • Open a web browser to a specified URL, and follow the instructions

There is no simpler way I can think of to get set up as easily as possible where a fairly complex solution can be installed and running with minimal effort.

TSU

12

Postgres with pgAdmin should be good as well. PostgreSQL is the most advanced open source database around, so if I were
getting into database now a days, I would put my effort into PostgreSQL. If you need a desktop database sqlite is great. As Malcolm wrote, Libreoffice probably works fine with it.

Bo

13

Libreoffice in general can provide an easy to create/configure frontend to just about any database in existence. The choice of database is limited only by the existence of database connectors for each possible database.

Last I checked, Libreoffice also supports the ODBC and OLEDB standards which were originated years ago by MS for its own Microsoft Office suite, and those are standards for any database that doesn’t want to create a special database connector.

So, a bit on this possible option (I still recommend a CRM platform instead), this also can be accomplished with limited deep knowledge. Some database tables may need to be created. Drawbacks compared to a CRM platform is that Libreoffice will likely need to be installed and running on the User’s machine, there may be scalability issues, you won’t have built-in User-based security in your app.

TSU

14

tsu2,
Thank you for that in depth input. I really appreciate it. I am looking into the CRM option at this point. Much of what you said is correct. If I could find turnkey option, that I can get into right away, relations and tables, pre-built tools, that would be great. I am reading through the lists. There are more there than I expected. Are there any you might recommend?

BTW, what is the difference between CMS and CRM?
thanks,

15

CMS (Content Management Service/System) is roughly equivalent to CRM, you’ll likely find solutions categorized in both.

Yes, the point is that even if you don’t find and <exact> match to what you want, it can at least be a starting point for over 75% of what you want, including the most difficult things to setup (primarily User based and Group based security). It’s a lot to look at, but looking at the project history is the most important. It might also be helpful to skim some blogs written by people who do some comparisons.

TSU