Can anybody recommend a relational database for Mac OS X, please? One that is CHEAP, preferably? I have downloaded the trial version of Bento, but it turns out not to be relational (unless I’m missing something obvious) so I am rather disappointed. I don’t want to spend as much as FileMaker costs, or even as much as Panorama, because I only want to create a single database and it seems silly to invest a lot of money in it.
Alternatively, is there a stand-alone, affordable package for submission tracking that is flexible enough to allow for one-to-many/many-to-one links, linked tables, secondary keys etc? That is, not just a basic spreadsheet-style flat format, but a more complicated one that lets you track multiple submissions to multiple clients, and to display data either by project or by client (amongst other criteria)?
There are a few free databases that run nicely on a Mac. SQLite is probably sufficient for what you need, and of course there are the heavy-weights like MySQL; they run fine on Macs, too, in fact I keep a few databases running on my system for mail storage. Bento isn’t really a database, at least not in the sense that it can be programmatically used to work with data. Framemaker is only marginally better; more like MS Access, so you’d probably be disappointed there too.
Something that has until now stopped me from using SQLite is that I always thought that although there are some apps that let you visually manage your database, you’d nonetheless be forced to build them manually, meaning without visual feedback hacking away in the commandline.
The CL is not evil in itself, but for the purpose of the creation of a database I have always regarded immediate visual feedback a tremendous help for identifying errors (which are never in short supply it seems ).
Any opinions, e.g. compelling arguments against this Access-ish attitude or pointers to apps that help in the creation phase of databases?
I like PostgreSQL. And the included PgAdmin is pretty nice and self explanatory way of using the database with a gui. You’d need to know a few basic SQL commands but nothing crazy (unless you plan on doing some hefty querying and inner joining or something).
Last time I looked, no, they didn’t do what I wanted. But after seeing your post, I searched again, and it appears that the NeoOffice database component is now described as relational. So I need to look at this further to find out if it is fully fledged or just a featherless promise of frustrated flight. However, the web sites are remarkably coy about the exact nature of the database component, and I am (frankly) fed up with downloading apps only to find that they are too basic, despite grandiose claims. Does anyone have experience of doing heavy cross-table database work with either of these database elements? And will they do what I want them to?
I hate myself already and I ahve not even gotten to the subject of the message. Bah!
I can’t believe I am about to type this.
If you like/are comfortable with/know it will do what you want why not simply use Access?
I feel dirty.
Keep in mind that all “relations” in any DB, including assecc (it makes sense if you think about it phonetically) all rely on a series of joins and primary keys (with a marginal amount of integrity management) there is not much of a reason to avoid MySQL, Posgress, etc. It is the schema management tool where most folks choke and die. The DBA that i respect most uses a very simple tool called “paper and pencil”. As in 8.5x11 and a No. 2. Granted he is a minor god around here, but his stuff is … simplicity. He minimizes the relational definitions to a manageable point then simply writes the definitions in SQL. His method has helped me quite a bit.
I know none of that blather was any help you to, but …
I guess I am spoiled in having both OS available at the same time (I use parallels) and therefor being able to keep my precious OS X environment free of all things MS. Sorry.
I will now go back to my natural state of uselessness.
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