From: "jrodenhi" <jack@...>

>
> To me, the value of the thumb drive would be the portability and lack
> of installation required to set up and run a demo. To be able to walk
> in, plug in the drive and demo the application (in a Visual Basic/SQL
> Server world where nothing is done without extensive modification of
> the prospect's computer) would be a significant advantage. You could
> not demonstrate multi-user aspects of the software, but that would be
> a given and not the focus of the demonstration. In a situation like
> this, there would be no anticipation of any other users using the
> program.
>

Switching between server and embedded versions is easy. It's a matter of
setting the protocol to local and setting the database name to the path
without the server or ip address. As long as the gds32.dll (firebird
client/embedded server) is in the app directory, it will work fine. By
adding the server name to the database path and setting protocol to tcpip,
it will use a FB server instead. This is especially useful for programs that
are run on laptops that might not always be connected, for instance being
"on the road". They could take a copy of the database with them (or whatever
portion they need depending on the program), and when the program runs and
can't connect to the network, it could ask them if they want to use the
local copy. I used this technique in a recent program and everything seemed
to work fine.

Woody (TMW)