WTF memo text is truncated to 510 characters when SQL querying via search?

[qwerty]

I have removed my previous reply since I was deceived by probably some missing coffee. Firebase is no SQL database. It's a NOSQL one. Hmpf. Back to that eap gibberish again :-(

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[Paolo F Cantoni]

I have removed my previous reply since I was deceived by probably some missing coffee. Firebase is no SQL database. It's a NoSQL one. Hmpf. Back to that eap gibberish again :-(

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Yes, Firebird is the SQL DB, Firebase is the NoSQL one...    The possibility of confusion abounds...

Paolo

[Geert Bellekens]

Aren't you concerned that you'll end up with a solution that works on .feap or .eap, but not on SQL Server?

Most professional users use SQL server or another "real" database, not .eap or .feap

Geert

[qwerty]

For professional use: no question. My customer unfortunately uses Oracle which probably explains their bad performance. But that's another story. Anyhow, for working off-site and there's the wish to have a lightweight SQL variant. For some time I had a SQL Server installed locally. Also for some time I used MySQL locally. But carrying additional 20G or so for SQL Server just for that little use I make of it and the configuration overhead for installing repositories does not outweigh this Access solution. Maybe if Apple makes me want to buy its next machine I'll look for a Docker solution.

Still, why there's no way to have a SQLite connection for EA native? EA isn't relying on complicated SQL syntax since the query everything one by one anyway (I'd guess). It won't come.

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[qwerty]

Me again. That wasn't my day. Somehow I got trapped with that Fire-something - and got hooked up with Firebase, a NoSQL DB. Until I noticed that EA uses Firebird, an open source MS SQL replacement (99% or so). So back in business. If that proves to be true, there's no stopping in actually switching over from EAP. I'll report back what my endeavors will bring to light.

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[qwerty]

Some progress (after to usual googling).

Minor observation: as said the initial file is about 18M. I added a 6M demo repo and the size stayed the same. I currently have only playgrounds of minor size here, so I can't test more. But it looks like the initial .feap comes with an empty bucket. Will see if I can get my hands on a larger repo.

Accessing that from outside (you won't need that for normal EA operation). That proved to be a more tough one. So here are my steps that got me working.

- Installed version 2.5.9 from the Firebird homepage. Just the vanilla MSI with no changes. That installs some server stuff which is obviously needed  for clients
- Next I got me DBeaver, which is a free Java-based client. That installs with ease and when you try opening a Firebird DB it automatically downloads some additional drivers and installs them.
- Finally the tricky part: opening a .feap. When get the open dialog you can select the file with the Browse button. Under User name enter SYSDBA and for the password enter "masterkey" without the quotes. That was hard to find out for a first time user. Luckily StackOverflow had an answer.

Now you should be up and running. In contrast to EA you have a nice SQL editor here which allows to create and save multiple SQLs. Right now it looks like you can not concurrently access a .feap with the client and EA. EA croaks with a strange ODBC error (what else?) when you try to open a .feap that is open in the external client. Interestingly EA can open a .feap concurrently in multiple EA instances. Maybe there's some setting?

First impression (after a few minutes testing): looks very good. I'll continue my research.

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[Eve]

One minor point with firebird models. They can slow down over time. If you notice that happening use Configure > Model > Integrity > Manage Firebird > Update Index Statistics.

[Richard Freggi]

DBeaver is realy nice!  But only IDEF data modeling notation as I remember.  They say they are working on crow's foot, that would be a nice improvement (IDEF gives me the hives....)

[skiwi]

You could use a FEAP rather than an EAP.

But be careful, there are gotchas with these such as not being able to live on a network drive, and being case sensitive.

[Richard Freggi]

You could use a FEAP rather than an EAP.

But be careful, there are gotchas with these such as not being able to live on a network drive, and being case sensitive.

Thank you, I am actively looking for more gotchas and pitfalls before I make the switch, I am in the middle of major project and can't afford any big surprise... don't want to just swap the warts of Access for another set of warts.  Any more insight, please share!