Serverless Database in C#

Question

Complete newbie question here: I'm just playing with C# for the first time and want to make a Windows Forms application which stores some info in a database structure, but obviously don't want to require something like MySQL to be installed on each client's computer. How do I go about this?

Answer 1

You can use SQLite. It doesn't require any installation or server on the client's computers. Here is an blog describing how to use it with .NET. It is easy to use, just add a reference to the System.Data.SQLite.dll.

Here is an open source data provider for .NET: System.Data.SQLite

From homepage: "SQLite is a software library that implements a self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration, transactional SQL database engine. SQLite is the most widely deployed SQL database engine in the world. The source code for SQLite is in the public domain."

Answer 2

VelocityDB works in a server less mode but can also be combined with a server when there is a need for it. It outperforms all the other choices mentioned here by roughly a magnitude, see comparison here. It allows you to use almost any .NET data structures persistently. The entire database engine and the optional server is implemented using C# code.

Answer 3

An easy way to do it from .NET 3.5 onwards is to store your data in XML files and use Linq to XML. This allows you to use SQL-like commands on your data which are actually compiled into your application, so you get full IDE IntelliSense support and error checking.