Playing with ESS

[Søren Dyhr]

What ODBC driver do you use on OS X, when approaching a mySQL, we are immediately driven to:

http://www.actualtechnologies.com/products.php

...by FMInc.'s site - which of course works, but has a price tag attached, aren't there any Open source dito around, if say the client changes his mind and let me continue developing native filemaker only?

--sd

[lannon]

sd,

The ODBC driver for open source databases from Actual Technologies does provide a trial license for just these occasions. The trial is pretty limited (it only returns 3 rows per query), however, it should allow you to set up the connection and interact with your data source. So, you can get a feel for ESS without opening your wallet.

If you client decides to go with ESS, but cannot find $30 in the budget to cover the cost of the driver, you may want to consider firing the client :B

[Josh Ormond]

Has anyone tried or tested the Mac drivers on the MySQL site? I thought I read a post that mentioned they got it to work (although) I can't find it now.

I don't have a Mac right handy that I can test it on for a few weeks.

Edited December 15, 2008 by Guest

[Søren Dyhr]

If you client decides to go with ESS, but cannot find $30 in the budget

I'm trying to dissuade them from going ESS - so it's the other way around. But rejecting things simply for being fad'ish without thorough examination would not seem justified. I do not ask for upfront amounts when feeling uncertain and likely to fool around.

Do you suggest that every thing you are supposed to have a meaning about is initiated by a upfront demand to cover eventual expenses the feasibility study might encounter? - it kind of reminds me of something a teacher said to us in a marketing class. If you buy a survey, the more you pay the more would the survey agree with you.

You can have it the other way, you develop a solution but the client insist on getting the Filemaker clients and server illegally on one of those torrents, until it have proven it's worth for the organisation likely to use it.

Realise that Filemaker solutions isn't fully canonised by IDG and other trendsetting magazines, who stick all kinds of fixed ideas into potential buyers heads ... it should for the time being be "cloud" and PHP and some sort of SQL or the company must expect public humiliation and disgrace.

--sd

Edited December 15, 2008 by Guest

[lannon]

I'm trying to dissuade them from going ESS - so it's the other way around. But rejecting things simply for being fad'ish without thorough examination would not seem justified. I do not ask for upfront amounts when feeling uncertain and likely to fool around.

Do you suggest that every thing you are supposed to have a meaning about is initiated by a upfront demand to cover eventual expenses the feasibility study might encounter? - it kind of reminds me of something a teacher said to us in a marketing class. If you buy a survey, the more you pay the more would the survey agree with you.

You can have it the other way, you develop a solution but the client insist on getting the Filemaker clients and server illegally on one of those torrents, until it have proven it's worth for the organisation likely to use it.

Realise that Filemaker solutions isn't fully canonised by IDG and other trendsetting magazines, who stick all kinds of fixed ideas into potential buyers heads ... it should for the time being be "cloud" and PHP and some sort of SQL or the company must expect public humiliation and disgrace.

--sd

sd,

I completely agree with you - I was joking with that bit about firing the client - especially in the current economic climate. Naturally, it is in the developer's best interest to minimize costs associated with feasibility studies.

Unfortunately, aside from Actual Technologies drivers, I don't believe there is any other way to experiment with ESS on Mac machines. If Windows is at all feasible, I believe there are free open source drivers available for that platform.

In spite of the confidence in ESS that other developers have expressed, I have my own reservations about ESS and don't feel entirely comfortable with recommending it. And not just because it is new and faddish; I have encountered unpredictable and unacceptable errors while using ESS data sources.

Regards,

John

[Søren Dyhr]

I saw the emot-icons, but wondered if the Wall Street "sense of entitlement" have hit developers too?

The open source drivers you speak of, are they among these?

http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/odbc/3.51.html

I could of couse backup the .vdi file in Virtual Box before each trial in an XP environment. But if someone know of one which works???

--sd

[Josh Ormond]

Those are the ones. For my windows XP pc I use the Windows XP driver. I believe FM says to use 3.51 for windows, but I had issues with it. So I am using the updated 5.1 driver. And everything works fine.

As for the Mac drivers, in my head it seems like they should work. However, I know that theory doesn't always translate to actuality.

[Søren Dyhr]

jmormond do have any of these as well?

I have encountered unpredictable and unacceptable errors while using ESS data sources.

--sd

[Josh Ormond]

On windows with the 3.51 driver, yes. I was getting some weird binary looking code in place of the data. Everything showed correctly in MySQL, but FM wasn't displaying correctly.

So far, no errors with the 5.1 driver. The only issues I have not resolved with MySQL is the inability to use value lists based on fields in the MySQL tables (inherent to the fact that ESS isn't indexed)...and Container fields. FM doesn't read BLOB fields from MySQL (assuming because they are stored as binary data).

Edited December 15, 2008 by Guest

[Razumovsky]

I was just researching the same issue. It's a scary world out there:

http://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=31495

Seems like for mac they blew it twice, and still buggy. I decided it was definitely worth $30 to have someone else pay attention to the matter. The 'Actual' driver was configured and running in a minute.

I'm still going to keep my eye on things though...

[Søren Dyhr]

I decided it was definitely worth $30 to have someone else pay attention to the matter

Fine point there, getting even better as the financial crisis develops and the $ gets less worth

--sd

[Baloo]

I've been using MySQL's connector 3.51(aka MyODBC) on my sandbox (iMac running 10.5.6) with both Server 9 & 10 Advanced for the past few months and haven't had any problems. Connector 5.1 kept crashing the ODBC administrator.

Our Production Servers are Win 2k3 VMs and have been using the Windows version (also 3.51) for over a year without a problem.

edited to add:

FM doesn't read BLOB fields from MySQL (assuming because they are stored as binary data).

I've gotten around this by building a php page to display the BLOB column data when passed the row id, and then linked a web viewer to it in the Filemaker Solution.

Edited January 14, 2009 by Guest