The Byte Stops Here

So I decided to try out CodexWiki. It looks really good, and built by two people I trust: Mark Mandel and Luis Majano. However, I don't like MySQL to be quite frank, and that is the only DB supported at this point. More on that later.

I downloaded CodexWiki, and looked at the db install notes here: http://www.codexwiki.org/wiki/Installation_Guide.cfm#Database_Installation

What?! I couldn't decipher what exactly to do. So I thought maybe I could convert the SQL script (which is MySQL only) to SQL Server, but I found there wasn't an easy way to do that either. I used various tools, but each one's output was incomplete. So I gave in after 6 hours (if you look at the script, you'll see why), and installed MySQL. Which was surprisingly easy. However, finding a good MySQL Client was harder. I did find one, but found according to the instructions that you couldn't run the SQL script from a client!

Now what! So I went looking for the SQL Script, and that wasn't very well documented either. I finally found one that looked promising in the \codexwiki\workbench\sql\0.5 directory. It was called codexwiki_mysqldump.sql. 

I then did some quick Scroogling and adapted a script to install the dump. Here are the steps.

1. Use a client to create a "codex" database.
2. Open the command prompt. (Hopefully on Windows, you checked the option to put MySQL in the PATH, so you can run MySQL commands very easily.)
   
3. Go to the directory mentioned above. Run this command: mysql -u root -p codex < codexwiki_mysqldump.sql
4. Enter the password for the server at the prompt, and that should be it.
   

Hopefully that helps! Maybe CodexWiki will support SQL Server with a proper script in the near future.

I'm often looking for a good alternative to MS SQL Server. I've used my different database system, but never MySQL and PostgreSQL. Recently, I started looking for some more up to date information, especially with the recent turmoil surrounding MySQL (first being bought by SUN, then the turnover, then SUN being possibly bought by IBM), who knows what the future holds for MySQL. 

Anyways, so I found two good articles worth reading. Enjoy!

• http://www.wikivs.com/wiki/MySQL_vs_PostgreSQL
• http://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Why_PostgreSQL_Instead_of_MySQL_2009

The field is definitely getting more crowded, I'd be interested in hearing more about Apache Derby and others.

SQL Server 2005+ users should take a look at this. It looks very promisiing.

Described as: "It would have been killer if you had recognized exactly which rows and columns were in play… and you have no ability to see what's happening in real-time other than firing up ol' SQL Server Management Studio and attempting to run queries before and after every action in your app. Now there is a better way."

The best part is that it does all this WITHOUT polling and open db connections, but using SQL Server's own in-built ability to report these changes.

What does this mean? Well, on your app, you can run action X, and see what SQL Server reports back as to the changes in the db as a result. No more manually querying tables, etc.

It looks very promising. I'll be playing with it in the next few days, but wanted people to get a heads up as well. Let me know if you like it.

Check it @ http://lab.arc90.com/2009/02/sqlwatcher_adhoc_database_chan.php.

"SQLQueryStress is a free tool for SQL Server programmers. It is designed to assist with performance stress testing of T-SQL queries and routines. The tool automatically collects metrics to help you determine whether your queries will perform under load, and what kind of resource strain they put on your server."

Seems like an older tool worth trying out!

http://www.datamanipulation.net/SQLQueryStress/

Just read an article on SQL Server 2005, which answers the question: for generating GUIDs, should one use the NEWID() function or the NEWSEQUENTIALID() function?

Worth reading! Really clarified some stuff for me.

http://www.mssqltips.com/tip.asp?tip=1600