Today I dabbled a bit with the Firebird SQL Server. It was created from Interbase so the fundamentals are strong. A little confusing in the beginning but I worked it out. The command line sucks though but it is just for a couple of times. Rest a cake ride.
Step one:-
Obtain the package from Firebirdsql.org.
Step two:-
Install with the GUI Installer. There are two engines, choose the super server. It is the future. You may use it as a service or as an ordinary application. As I am testing it out, I chose the application. On a deployment scene I would use it as a service.
Step three:-
Open the install directory and go to the bin folder in command mode.
(in windows) C:\Program Files\Firebird\Firebird_2_1\bin>
Now a bit of command mode setup :-
- Open GSEC by typing C:\Program Files\Firebird\Firebird_2_1\bin>gsec -user sysdba -password masterkey
- Change password at GSEC prompt GSEC> modify sysdba -pw manager
- Create a user for regular use. I am using scott and tiger deliberately because of the familiarity of Oracle users to this login. GSEC> add scott -pw tiger -fname Scott -lname Urman
- Then quit GSEC GSEC> quit
Now the painful command operations are over. Let’s turn graphical. There are many good graphical utilities but FlameRobin is a good free and Open-Source tool. It shines well for learning purposes. For expert Query generation you need to obtain commercial tools. However for my case, I code SQL by hand and the editor has colored code highlighting and intelligence. This is a big help.
Step four :-
Go to http://www.flamerobin.org/ and download the installer. It is quite small like firebird and installs in a jiffy.
Step five :-
- Open FlameRobin Database Admin and create a new database by right clicking localhost and select Create New Database.
- Give any display name. I gave scottdb.
- Enter a valid database path where the *.gdb file will be created. I created a scott.gdb in my home directory.
- Feed scott and tiger as name and password.
- I selected UTF8 as the charset. You may choose other.
- Select SQL dialect as 3 if not already selected.
- Press Create.
- The database will be created and icon would appear under localhost.
- Double click the icon. The tree would open. I got 40 system tables with it. The other tables in the pic are created by me.
Step six :-
No default table is there to experiment. So we need to create it. Right click on the tables and select Create New.
The editor with a CREATE TABLE template would appear. Change it and Run by pressing the play arrow. The output / error will be available in the statistics window.
Enter some data to experiment with it.
Run a select Query. The output will be displayed in data tab. Multiple select queries are not permitted. For all non-queries, multiple semicolon delimited DDL, DML and DCL and be written.
The tool is quite impressive. Find some interesting dialogs here:-
That’s all. I am yet to experiment on the software development arena. Once done, I will be writing about it. Till then Happy Experimenting.
— Manik.