Linux databases part 2

Neil Winchurst neil at holsdev.vispa.com
Sun Jun 17 15:07:44 UTC 2007


Just a quick reminder of my background. I used to write databases for
small companies, using mostly Borland Paradox. (Windows, of course). I
have now been using Linux exclusively for about six years.

One of the gaps in the Linux repertoire is a so called 'monolithic'
database such as Paradox or Access. Before anyone shoots me down in
flames let me hasten to add the I am not for a moment suggesting that
that is the only way to go with databases. Of course, there is a place
for all types. And Linux does have many databases to offer, but none of
them yet the equivalent of the above two. Or not that I have found yet.
Some are getting there slowly. Meanwhile I am using mysql with knoda as
a front-end. It looks good so far, with some reservations.

Now to my question. One of the most useful tools which my customers
used all the time was the 'search'. This was available when using a
form to look at the records. A click on the search button in the tool
bar would bring up a small window on screen. This included a drop down
list of all the field names in the table and a slot in which to type a
search pattern. This pattern could include wild-cards. 

So, choose the field in which to search and type in the pattern and
click on OK. For example, choose the post code field and type in a post
code or choose a last name field and type in a name, eg brown*. This is
not the equivalent of a select in sql because you would be moved
through the table to the first record which matched your criterion, and
all of the records would still be viewable. It did not reduce you to a
list of just the matching records.

If the first match was not the right one you could then click on another
icon and move to the next match. I suppose in some ways it was a bit
like the Find File tool in Konqueror. 

This was absolutely vital to my customers. They needed a way to move to
the relevant record(s) quickly while still having all records
viewable. And it was very easy for them to use, as non computer
experts. Some of my customers had quite large tables, often over
100,000 records. They simply had to have an easy way of searching their
records.

So finally the question, does anyone know of any database in Linux
which has the equivalent to the search as outline above? To me one of
the most important things to be able to do with a database is move to
the relevant record(s) quickly **while still having all records
viewable**.

So now I will sit back and wait for all the flak which is sure to come
my way very quickly.

Neil Winchurst




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