tom@stubby.UUCP (Tom Roehl) (03/05/91)
Hi,
I need some help on selecting a database program. I've been planning on
developing a database application to possibly market, and before I plunk down
the money for a database system, I want to get some opinions on what systems are
currently availabe. Here is what I'm hoping to find:
Absolute musts....
1) It must be relational and allow one-many relationships.
2) It must be able to handle text fields, or at least a field size that allows
a full page of text to be entered.
3) It must be able to output data that can be formatted to produce form letters
4) It must be able to output data that can be formatted and input into
publishing software such as Pagemaker or Ventura.
5) It must allow the developer to write custom scripts and/or code to perform
non-standard checks/processing at a field and record level. I am a
programmer, so I'm not worried about the complexity of this process, as long
as I can do it.
6) It must work on the Mac II series.
Highly desireable...
1) When a one-to-many relationship is displayed on the screen, the parent
appears on one half of the screen, and a list of the child records appears
on the other half. In other words, if I bring up a parent record, I don't
want to have to page through a hundred child records to find the one that I
want, I want to be able to go directly to that record and recall it.
2) Multi-user capability
3) Be icon driven and allow developer to create icons to perform custom
operations.
4) Allow color screens.
5) Allow a run-time version of the completed application to be generated that
does not require the complete database to run. (i.e. the customer does not
have to buy the database package to use the application.)
6) It is not un-godly expensive. (I'm experimenting with developing an
application, so this will come out of my own pocket)
I would appreciate any and all thoughts on these points. Also, if you know
anything about what is involved in creating custom application software based
on a third party database and selling it, I would appreciate those comments
also. Thanks in advance,
Tom Roehl
P.S. If you have a package your willing to sell, let me know.
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Thomas R. Roehl UUCP: ...!uunet!stubby!tom
Digital Analysis Corp. Reston, VA INET: tom%stubby@uunet.uu.net
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