Data Provider Implementation Notes

WRDB was written to allow the user to select from a variety of database formats including:

• Microsoft Access
  

• Corel Paradox
  

• SQLite
  

• Firebird
  

• Microsoft SQL Server
  

• Oracle
  

• MySQL

Your choice of data provider may depend on several factors, as discussed here.

This table compares the most important features of each data provider. Click on the characteristic column for an explanation of each; click on the data provider row for specifics on each provider:

Comparison of WRDB Data Providers
Characteristic	Access	Firebird	Firebird Embedded	SQLite	SQL Server	SQL Server CE	Oracle	MySQL
Is File Based (Y/N)	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y	N	N
Requires Server Configuration (Y/N)	N	Y	N	N	Y	N	Y	Y
Is Open Source (Y/N)	N	Y	Y	Y	N	N	N	Y
Allows Multi-user Access (Y/N)	Y	Y	N	N	Y	N	Y	Y
Distribution Size (MB)	6	5	5	0.7	0.3	N	>200	0.3
Data Integrity (Grade)	D	A	B	B	A	N	A	A
Allowable Database Size (Size)	S	XL	XL	L	S	N	XL	XL
Performance (Grade)	A	B	B	A	A	N	B	A

Note that the use of Provider-Independent Text Files facilitates transfer of data between these providers.

See also Data Provider Concepts.