Need simple database recommendation

[FalconDEW]

It seems like I can never find good enough advice that is specific to my needs - even though the internet is full of db examples. :(

 

I have a small windows application written in vb.net that I am planning on commercially distributing soon. However, all of my data storage currently exists in encrypted text files. Prior to distrubition, I would like to re-write my data storage to be a bit more "professional" and give me more flexibility down the road.

 

I would like a db solution that is simple and free. I do not have a lot of complex data I'm storing - just contact information on users, etc. I want the db to be completely self-contained within the program... i.e. I want it to work just like any other stand alone program that stores data.

 

Could anybody recommend a good solution for me to use, as well as some advice on where I could look to get started on implementing this (i.e. a tutorial, etc). I am a pretty solid programmer... I'm just a complete newbie when it comes to databases.

 

Any help / advice would be great! Thanks!!

 

-Falcon

[Nate Bross]

Do you need lots of quick frequent access to the data, or is it just onzy - twozy data reading? I think XML would work well as a free way to store user contact information. XML would be completely stand-alone and could be easily encrypted to prevent tamporing.

 

Simple search on Google returned these.

http://www.codeproject.com/vb/net/parsefilecode.asp

http://www.vbdotnetheaven.com/Code/Apr2003/005.asp

[FalconDEW]

I need a lot of access to the data... but the way I'm currently doing it is reading in all the data from the text files upon launch... and then saving back out to the files either when the user requests it, or when the program exits. Because it's just a bunch of text info, the save/load works instantaneously. I can't imagine the program ever really storing enough data to require real-time save/load.

 

Do you need lots of quick frequent access to the data, or is it just onzy - twozy data reading? I think XML would work well as a free way to store user contact information. XML would be completely stand-alone and could be easily encrypted to prevent tamporing.

 

Simple search on Google returned these.

http://www.codeproject.com/vb/net/parsefilecode.asp

http://www.vbdotnetheaven.com/Code/Apr2003/005.asp

[Nate Bross]

XML should work fine as long as you are not doing file IO every two seconds. If you read it all in on load and only save upon exit or user request, XML will work fine I think. If you needed to do lots of read/write it might become a bit slugish; however, I use XML for similar types of data storage and have never had problems.