Mike,

I think MSDE would be a good choice with a SQL Server backend. But, you mention Oracle too? Is it not definite that the database will be SQL Server?

There are ways to do merge/replication in SQL Server (which would be the "syncing-up" that you need). We haven't crossed that bridge yet in our app, so I can't speak from experience, but I'm pretty sure it can be done. Have you tried posting a question in the SQL Server forum here? I remember a FoxPro DevCon I went to probably about 4 or 5 years ago when Jim Duffy was talking about merge/replication with SQL Server, so maybe he's the guy to ask.

~~Bonnie




>Hi Einar,
>
>Thanks for the reply. I kinda figured MS SQL Server and MSDE would go "hand-in-hand" but it's unfortunate that they can't magically sync their data :( I always like the less coding is best approach. Anyway, I've heard that they're basically the same thing except MSDE is "crippled" in some way related to the number of concurrent hits or something to that effect.
>
>Do you have any comments re. ORACLE and MSDE? How about the Fox? Can it fit in here as the local datastore?
>
>Regards,
>
>Mike
>
>
>
>>Mike,
>>If your current (online) application talks to MS SQL Server your best choice for local data storage in those offline situations would be MSDE. I do not think there are any automatic features that you can use to sync the local data with the server data when you are "online" again. There might be some 3rd party solutions to syncronise the data, but I don't think it would be too hard to write your own sync application for this.
>>
>>Just my $0.02.
>>
>>Einar
>>
>>>Hi All,
>>>
>>>We're developing a C# winforms application that talks to a MS SQL Server database. A requirement was made to have the application run "offline" (disconnected I suppose is another way to describe it?). We were able to make a fully functioning offline version using XML files for the offline data storage mechanism. This worked very well for a small database. Unfortunately, it chugged very slowly (almost unusable) for much larger data.
>>>
>>>So my question is, what alternatives do we have to try to solve this speed issue? I've already thought of the obvious one (keep the offline data to an "acceptable minimum") but I'm looking for other ways :) We've been considering MSDE, however, the issue of synchronizing the offline data with the online/live SQL Server database remains. Is it "automagic"? What if the database was ORACLE instead? Does MSDE play fair with ORACLE?
>>>
>>>TIA for any suggestions and/or comments.