folks, is there a database for a non-commercial use (i.e. relatively cheap)
which will allow me to store both text and diagrams/tables, preferably in
the same field? I do not want to use the OLE system. I can run on either PC
or Mac

On Nov 1, 7:36 am, "Steve Long" <steve_l... (AT) ntlworld (DOT) com> wrote:
I think you are looking more for a front end tool than a database. And
why you would think it is even possible to store text and images "in
the same field" is beyond me.

With that said, what kind of front end do you think you need?
Something that is relatively host independent? (like a browser with a
DB backend?) or something more host specific? (e.g MS Access?)

Are you looking for just a datastore (ie a place to put stuff,
unorganized), or a database where there is some structure that defines
where things belong?

You might really only need a filesystem (text files and image files
fit in the same directory nicely.

Ed

Ed Prochak wrote on 01.11.2007 17:48:
Why shouldn't this be possible? Any database (I know) will happily store plain
text in a BLOB field. You just need to know how to re-create the text from the
blob (i.e. you need to store the encoding as well).

And most probably the OP meant with "text" OpenOffice (or Word) documents

On Nov 1, 1:20 pm, Thomas Kellerer <FJIFALSDG... (AT) spammotel (DOT) com> wrote:
Well fields are either in files or on screen forms. Databases have
tables and columns. I can see an upload feature taking either kind of
file, but it would take a file and treat it the same. But unless the
Steve Long speaks out otherwise, I was thinking he wanted the DB to
act differently depending on whether it was text or image data.

On the backend DBMS, BLOBs can hold a mix easily (think storing an
HTML page). But I don't think it is necessarily efficient.

Actually, I'm thinking of a series of several hundred teaching packages each
with the text and whatever diagrams are necessary to support the text - Each
record would contain a series of keywords whcih would be used to search the
database to find teaching on a specific subject. Whether an actual database
is really what I want or not, I'm unsure, it could be that astructure such a
Wikipaedia might fit the bill for the on-screen element, but, ultimately the
entries will be printed out to form booklets covering certain user-defined
topics. It may be that an HTML structured system may be needed in which case
each diagram would be held as an independat file - I'm not so keen on this
although I suppose I could produce an XML driven database with tags linking
he diagrams (I'm not convinced this is any better than an Access database
with OLE linkages though)


"Ed Prochak" <edprochak (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote

On Nov 7, 9:13 am, "Steve Long" <steve_l... (AT) ntlworld (DOT) com> wrote:
HTML does not need to be file based.
(Caution: Shameless self promotion about to follow.)
Our company provides a web Content Management System (CMS) which does
basically what you want. You can edit the content online, including
pages, images, whatever. Our developers have done a really good job of
including about any feature you'd want in a web page. The Database on
the back end is Oracle. There is nothing in the filesystem. Everything
is in the database. Sorry that I cannot share our data model design,
but it is proprietary information.
visit http://www.magicinterface.com
(end promotion)

Note that earlier when I said I didn't think is efficient to store
your data in BLOB columns, I was referring your plan to store either
text or images in the same blob columns. creating searches in such a
case will be very difficult. I did not mean storing it in a database
would be inefficient.

Do you really want to build your own tool from scratch? May I
suggest that you concentrate on building the content and use a CMS
product/service to help. Another set of tools to consider are Computer
Based Training (CBT) tools. Your application seems to fit those types
of tools (CMS or CBT).

As I said, keep the text separate from the images in whatever design
you develop. Maybe you even want separate search tables (that model
the analogous index in the back of a book). Or with HTML, these are
essentially built into the text. I think a Relational DBMS would be
better than XML or flat files.

I hope this discussion is helpful, even if I have maybe thrown some
stumbling blocks onto your path.

Ed