hi adam

thanks very much for your informative reply. i am going to develop a
small demo application in order to get my head around these things.

re ddl, backing up and confirming a successful backup from a script,
etc., is there any resources you could recommend to get me started.

thanks.

--- In firebird-support@yahoogroups.com, "Adam" <s3057043@...> wrote:
>
> > i am considering using Firebird for a smart client application.
i
> have
> > a couple of questions:
> >
> > 1. would it be possible to include a Firebird database install
> within
> > the installation package for my main smart client application? i
> would
> > need the Firebird database to silently install onto the local
> user's
> > computer, with the minimum of fuss, so that my smart client
> > application can use it as a local data source.
> >
>
> The standard install will want to install a service, which
requires
> the user to be Power user at least. You would then have the fuss
of
> creating your own exceptions in the firewall to allow it to
listen,
> but yes a -silent option is available in the installer.
>
> A better approach would be to use the embedded engine, which runs
in
> your application space, which is just a matter of a couple of
files
> in the right relative location to your binary.
>
> Do not use embedded in your development environment, but
Superserver
> as this makes debugging easier, but for release, substitute the
> embedded engine for the client library.
>
> > 2. once the firebird database is installed at the client end, i
> would
> > probably need to release update patches every now and again to
> alter
> > the database structure. how easy is it with Firebird to make
> > alterations to a client's database using scripting, without
> corrupting
> > the data?
>
> Most ddl comands are available, but you want to ensure that your
> application has disconnected from the database before running so
you
> do not get 'object in use' type errors. There is always the risk
of
> corrupting or just plain losing data during ddl, so it would be
> highly recommended to backup and confirm that backup restores
> correctly before running your upgrade script.
>
> Adam
>