Well no doubt this may start a rather heated discussion. I started looking into the history of the Base component, who is using it now (looked into Forums, users discussion list), and finally came upon the following FAQ (edited a LOT just recently):
http://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/FAQ_%28Base%29 which seems to indicate (hmmm)-- "Is Base a database? Not technically. Base serves several roles within the *Office suite (AOO<http://www.openoffice.org/product/index.html>/ LibO <http://www.libreoffice.org/>), but Base *itself* is strictly an interface (or front-end<http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa141493%28office.10%29.aspx>) designed to connect to various types of databases, by means of driver<http://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/DevGuide/Database/Driver_Specifics>files." ...and then "Base offers to create an *all-in-one 'embedded database' file* similar to MS Access. In this configuration, the front-end components (queries, forms, reports and macros) are packaged together with the database files produced by HSQLDB, all within a single Base (.odb) file. Unfortunately, this single-file concept has proven unreliable with Base, leading to rampant data corruption<http://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?p=162653#p162653>. So it's best to avoid the 'Create new database' wizard in Base thereby avoiding 'embedded database' files (perhaps with the exception of developing prototypes or distributing examples<http://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewforum.php?f=100>). Fortunately, Base offers an alternative wizard which produces a robust ' split-database<http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa141493%28office.10%29.aspx>' configuration in which the database (tables and user-data) is stored in a separate file (or files). Steps for creating a new 'split-database' utilizing the built-in HSQL database-engine with Base are outlined below." I don't really know who the author is, but, I too, had been giving this a great deal of thought. Does a user know what any of this really means, for example. And, including an embedded DB like HSQL puts added responsibility for that embedded DB on this project. What if Base were strictly a front-end? So, does anyone have any further insights into how many users, if any, directly use Base to create and use their own individual DBs as opposed to using the "front-end" capabilities? -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MzK "Achieving happiness requires the right combination of Zen and Zin."
