If anybody asks about an alternative to Microsoft Access, I think
SQLite used in combination with LibreOffice will give you a lot of
functionality, including comprehensive SQL support and scalability to
much larger databases.

Of course you can use other backends, like MariaDB/MySQL, as well.
SQLite just makes it easy to have an actual database file that you can
copy/move about the place, without having to do database dumps/restores.
If you don’t need multiuser support, it is very convenient.

I notice that libreoffice-base is now a separate package under Debian
(and I suppose its derivatives as well), no longer included in the
“base” (heh) LibreOffice package. Make sure to install this, along with
libsqliteodbc.

Now, say you have an existing SQLite3 database that you want to access
from LibreOffice. Suppose it is in the file
/home/ldo/hack/lo_try/test.db. In order for databases to be accessible
via ODBC, they need to have entries in your ~/.odbc.ini file. This is
just a text file, in the good old .ini tradition. The format for entries
is very simple, e.g.:

[test-db]
Description=Test database for LibreOffice Base
Driver=SQLite3
Database=/home/ldo/hack/lo_try/test.db

Now, when you launch the LibreOffice Base database wizard, you have
options to “create a new database”, “open an existing database file”, or
“connect to an existing database”. Choose that last one “connect to an
existing database”. The popup menu shows the available back-end
drivers: choose “ODBC”. Now, when you click “Next”, there should be a
text field with a “Browse...” button; clicking this should show the
names of entries in your ~/.odbc.ini file, e.g. “test-db” if you used
the name in my example above.

Select this, and click “Finish”. Next you will be prompted for a name
to save the “database file”. This is just the LibreOffice Base document
that contains the settings for connecting to the actual database:
LibreOffice doesn’t know or care where the database back-end keeps the
actual data.

After having named the LibreOffice database file, you should see the
main LibreOffice Base window. In the lower half, under “Tables”, you
should see a list of the tables from the database file. You can
double-click a table name to see a quick list of all its records.

That’s as far as I’ve got. I see a “Design View”, “Form Wizards”, and
“Report Wizards”, and all kinds of other fun stuff. Should be great for
building simple database applications, with a minimum of programming.

On 4/27/2024 6:17 AM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
> If anybody asks about an alternative to Microsoft Access, I think
> SQLite used in combination with LibreOffice will give you a lot of
> functionality, including comprehensive SQL support and scalability to
> much larger databases.
>
> Of course you can use other backends, like MariaDB/MySQL, as well.
> SQLite just makes it easy to have an actual database file that you can
> copy/move about the place, without having to do database dumps/restores.
> If you don’t need multiuser support, it is very convenient.
>
> I notice that libreoffice-base is now a separate package under Debian
> (and I suppose its derivatives as well), no longer included in the
> “base” (heh) LibreOffice package. Make sure to install this, along with
> libsqliteodbc.
>
> Now, say you have an existing SQLite3 database that you want to access
> from LibreOffice. Suppose it is in the file
> /home/ldo/hack/lo_try/test.db. In order for databases to be accessible
> via ODBC, they need to have entries in your ~/.odbc.ini file. This is
> just a text file, in the good old .ini tradition. The format for entries
> is very simple, e.g.:
>
> [test-db]
> Description=Test database for LibreOffice Base
> Driver=SQLite3
> Database=/home/ldo/hack/lo_try/test.db
>
> Now, when you launch the LibreOffice Base database wizard, you have
> options to “create a new database”, “open an existing database file”, or
> “connect to an existing database”. Choose that last one “connect to an
> existing database”. The popup menu shows the available back-end
> drivers: choose “ODBC”. Now, when you click “Next”, there should be a
> text field with a “Browse...” button; clicking this should show the
> names of entries in your ~/.odbc.ini file, e.g. “test-db” if you used
> the name in my example above.
>
> Select this, and click “Finish”. Next you will be prompted for a name
> to save the “database file”. This is just the LibreOffice Base document
> that contains the settings for connecting to the actual database:
> LibreOffice doesn’t know or care where the database back-end keeps the
> actual data.
>
> After having named the LibreOffice database file, you should see the
> main LibreOffice Base window. In the lower half, under “Tables”, you
> should see a list of the tables from the database file. You can
> double-click a table name to see a quick list of all its records.
>
> That’s as far as I’ve got. I see a “Design View”, “Form Wizards”, and
> “Report Wizards”, and all kinds of other fun stuff. Should be great for
> building simple database applications, with a minimum of programming.

From what I have seen when I checked Base comes with HSQLDB (but yes,
can be connected to basically any SQL database)

--
microblog: https://dice.camp/@kyonshi
macroblog: https://gmkeros.wordpress.com
pictures: https://portfolio.pixelfed.de/kyonshi

On Sat, 27 Apr 2024 21:44:15 +0200, Kyonshi wrote:

> On 4/27/2024 6:17 AM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>
>> [unnecessary quoting of my entire posting]
>
> From what I have seen when I checked Base comes with HSQLDB ...

Would that put the database inside the actual LibreOffice Base document?

Haven’t found a use for that (yet). I come from already having existing
databases in MySQL/MariaDB and SQLite, and being curious about how I can
make use of them from LibreOffice.

On 2024-04-27 06:17, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
> If anybody asks about an alternative to Microsoft Access,

Rekall, but it is a dead project. It was closer to M$A than LOB.

https://store.kde.org/p/1126366

--
Cheers, Carlos.

On 4/28/2024 12:57 AM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
> On Sat, 27 Apr 2024 21:44:15 +0200, Kyonshi wrote:
>
>> On 4/27/2024 6:17 AM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>>>
>>> [unnecessary quoting of my entire posting]
>>
>> From what I have seen when I checked Base comes with HSQLDB ...
>
> Would that put the database inside the actual LibreOffice Base document?
>
> Haven’t found a use for that (yet). I come from already having existing
> databases in MySQL/MariaDB and SQLite, and being curious about how I can
> make use of them from LibreOffice.
>

from my understanding you should be able to. Just wanted to point out
that HSQLDB seems to come packaged with Base, even if you can just
replace the engine

--
microblog: https://dice.camp/@kyonshi
macroblog: https://gmkeros.wordpress.com
pictures: https://portfolio.pixelfed.de/kyonshi

On Sat, 27 Apr 2024 04:17:17 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro
<ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

>If anybody asks about an alternative to Microsoft Access, I think
>SQLite used in combination with LibreOffice will give you a lot of
>functionality, including comprehensive SQL support and scalability to
>much larger databases.

But LibreOffice is dependent on Java, which seems to be deprecated in
some circles.

--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

On Mon, 29 Apr 2024 06:31:28 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:

> On Sat, 27 Apr 2024 04:17:17 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro
> <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
>
>>If anybody asks about an alternative to Microsoft Access, I think
>>SQLite used in combination with LibreOffice will give you a lot of
>>functionality, including comprehensive SQL support and scalability to
>>much larger databases.
>
> But LibreOffice is dependent on Java, which seems to be deprecated in
> some circles.

I did have some LibreOffice Java stuff installed, so I did this

dpkg -r liblibreoffice-java libreoffice-java-common libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb

and my LibreOffice Base access still works fine.

On 4/29/2024 7:47 AM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
> On Mon, 29 Apr 2024 06:31:28 +0200, Steve Hayes wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 27 Apr 2024 04:17:17 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D'Oliveiro
>> <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>> If anybody asks about an alternative to Microsoft Access, I think
>>> SQLite used in combination with LibreOffice will give you a lot of
>>> functionality, including comprehensive SQL support and scalability to
>>> much larger databases.
>>
>> But LibreOffice is dependent on Java, which seems to be deprecated in
>> some circles.
>
> I did have some LibreOffice Java stuff installed, so I did this
>
> dpkg -r liblibreoffice-java libreoffice-java-common libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb
>
> and my LibreOffice Base access still works fine.

I think the Java part is actually the included database. if you don't
use that one then it still should be fine.

On Mon, 29 Apr 2024 09:26:50 +0200, Kyonshi wrote:

> On 4/29/2024 7:47 AM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
>
>> I did have some LibreOffice Java stuff installed, so I did this
>>
>> dpkg -r liblibreoffice-java libreoffice-java-common
>> libreoffice-sdbc-hsqldb
>>
>> and my LibreOffice Base access still works fine.
>
> I think the Java part is actually the included database.

The “HSQLDB Embedded” option was still available.