benniecoetzer wrote:

> I am developing an application for the display of thousands of images
> of different insect species - basically a library. I have chosen to
> use Firebird as the database but would like some clarification on the
> following:
> 1. May the fbclient.dll be distributed to users for free - the
> application runs on one machine only with only the primary user.

Yes

> 2. Is there a way to install the fbclient, set security and get it to
> run automatically (programatically) - the users are mostly very
> computer illiterate.

You just need to include it with your application.

> 3. The data is currently well over 10GB in size and will increase
> dramatically as new species are entered. Distribution is a problem.
> I am not sure how to split the database into separate files.

Personally I do not put the images IN the database. Just the path to the
images, so the database is much easier to manage, and just missing
images need to be circulated.

> 4. Multiple users contribute to the data and are responsible for
> different families. Is it best to keep their data in different
> databases or are separate tables enough. The latter makes it easier
> to manage.

Brake the images down into different directories for each classification
and sub-classification, and keep all the search able data in the one
database.

--
Lester Caine - G8HFL
-----------------------------
L.S.Caine Electronic Services - http://home.lsces.co.uk
Model Engineers Digital Workshop -
http://home.lsces.co.uk/ModelEngineersDigitalWorkshop/
Treasurer - Firebird Foundation Inc. - http://www.firebirdsql.org/index.php