[fpc-pascal] Re: FCL-DB/SQLDB docs started

[Adrian Maier]

On Nov 28, 2007 1:46 AM, L <L at z505.com> wrote:
>
> Help the help, help our help!

Hello,

Thank you guys for starting to write documentation about sqldb and
database access in
general !
It's painful to rely on those few examples and using the
code-completion feature of Lazarus
for guessing the methods  each time when needing to work with databases ...

Which is the right place for discussing about the new sqldb guide ?
Since I'm a sqldb beginner I'm not
sure how much documentation text can I contribute with.  But at least
i can come up with ideas
since I know what kind of information would I expect to find in a
"Working with databases" guide.

For instance :
- I'd move the "Step-by-step"  section  before the box about FCL-DB  ,
or even in a separate page
because it seems to contain information for people who want to add
connectivity for new database
vendors . So it's not information for the typical developer.

- I think that the guide should contain easily identifiable sub-sections :
"Connecting to a database"  (with links to another page that presents
the specifics for connecting to
the various db engines) , "Reading the contents of a table" ,
"Executing SQL commands" ,
"Using parameters" , "Calling a stored procedure" , "Getting metadata
information from the database" ,
etc.    A long, complete tutorial is hard to follow if it doesn't have
sub-sections .

- The guide should avoid ending up like this one :
http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/Lazarus_Database_Tutorial
which contains 6 tutorials , each having its own, unique structure.
Some tutorials are verbose,  others are shorter .
Creating a connection is different for each database type,  but
afterwards  the handling of the data is supposed to
be the same regardless of the database being used.  The mentioned wiki
page fails to present the common
elements involved in working with databases.


Cheers,
Adrian Maier