Absolute Database - a fantastic BDE replacement |
Borland, the company that produces Delphi, among others programming tools, created, years ago, a database manager which is, supposedly, very easy-to-use. I refer to BDE (Borland Database Engine). Indeed, it's very handy, because it's a kind of interface integrating different database management tools: Interbase, Paradox, Dbase, FoxPro, Oracle, etc. So far everything seems fine. The interface is quite clear and database management is made very easy, although, of cause, it requires to learn some peculiarities implemented by BDE developers.
However, once you have developed an application using BDE, here you are the difficulties. One of them is that in order to run the application, it's necessary to have BDE previously installed on the computer where the program in question should function. To top it all, evidently there are different BDE versions and not all of them are compatible in everything. Sure, a higher version must be 100% compatible with any previous one, but this happens only in an ideal world. In the real world, sometimes this simply doesn't happen.
That's why I decided to look for a replacement for BDE and found Absolute Database that is AN ALTENATIVE (I emphasize it) for BDE. It can be used with Delphi and C++ Builder. It is a complete replacement. No more BDE, no more DLLs, totally compatible with db-aware controls. In addition, with encryption capabilities, BLOB compression, and using a single file for the entire database. The best thing is that it's free for personal use and what's more interesting is that, although it displays a screen announcing that Absolute Database is being used, it happens only in Delphi, in the moment of running programming environment. In other words, no nag screen appears at the middle of our application saying that we are using these components.
Thus, I developed Bytes Privados (a personal electronic diary) with BDE and when everything was functioning correctly, I changed Borland components for Absolute Database components. Everything worked without almost any change. This alternative is highly recommended, especially, if you don't want to take trouble over all this BDE installation when database applications are created. Highly recommended. Based on Morsa's scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is the lowest grade and 10 is the highest one, it gets, without any doubts, a huge 10.
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The other people in the office didn't believe me when I said that all I had to do was document the problem and you would probably give me a fix overnight. Unbelievable! Keep up the great work. I hope you guys all make a fortune out of this product because it is truly fantastic and the support is the best I have ever encountered.
Mark Kefford
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