Deploying C# Application with Local MySql (Workbench) Database using SQLite

Question

I'm currently preparing ac# application I've made using MySql workbench, Visual Studio, XAMPP and the MySQL connector. I want to enable the use of this application on other computers without the use of so many programs/installations.

After doing some research (and checking other questions here), I've concluded that SQLite is the best option. However, I'm not sure how to implement this appropriately. I've looked into several conversion plugins/scripts (.sql file to sqlite database) however I'm not able to get them to function properly.

If anyone has any links they can point me to or any ideas on how I can implement SQLite please do let me know!

Thanks in advance!

UPDATE: Ok so I spent a day trying to make my application compatible with SQLite, however I was unsuccessful. What would be the best way to deploy the application with the mysql database with the minimum amount of work by the end user?

Thanks to everyone for their contribution!

Answer 1

I've not had much luck with conversion plugin/scripts either. I ended up writing my own conversions for the small number of tables I needed. Here is a rather simple example of one using one of my tables that you could easily modify for your own purposes:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Data.SQLite;
using MySql.Data.MySqlClient;


namespace SampleConversion
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
    private void create_SQLite_database()
    {
        string connectionString = "Data Source=" + Application.StartupPath + "\\pthData.sqlite;Version=3;";

        try
        {
            SQLiteConnection.CreateFile("pthData.sqlite");
        }
        catch (SQLiteException ex)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("Unable to create the SQLite database\n" + ex.Message + "\nConnection string: " + connectionString, "Create SQLite file/database error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Exclamation, MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1, MessageBoxOptions.ServiceNotification);
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            MessageBox.Show("Unable to create the SQLitedatabase\n" + ex.Message + "\nConnection string: " + connectionString, "Create SQLite file/database error", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Exclamation, MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1, MessageBoxOptions.ServiceNotification);
        }
        // file created, now create tables
        SQLiteConnection cn = new SQLiteConnection(connectionString);
        if (cn.State == ConnectionState.Closed)
            cn.Open();

        SQLiteCommand cmd;
        string commandString = "Create table if not exists USTimeZones\n";

        // create time zones file
        commandString += "(state nvarchar(30), city nvarchar(100), county nvarchar(50), timezone nvarchar(10), ";
        commandString += "timetype int, latitude nvarchar(10), longitude nvarchar(10),  ";
        commandString += "PRIMARY KEY(state, city, county, timezone, timetype))";
        cmd = new SQLiteCommand(commandString, cn);
        try
        {
            cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();
        }
        catch (SQLiteException sqlexception)
        {
            MessageBox.Show(sqlexception.Message + "\n Command string: " + commandString, "Error creating USTimeZones", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error, MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1, MessageBoxOptions.ServiceNotification);
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            MessageBox.Show(ex.Message + "\n Command string: " + commandString, "Error creating USTimeZoness", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error, MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1, MessageBoxOptions.ServiceNotification);
        }

    }


    private void btnMySql_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        string cmd = "";
        int count = 0;

        create_SQLite_database(); // Create the SQLite database file and a table within it

        string MySQLconnectionString = "Server=MyServerAddress;Database=PTHData;uid=username;pwd=passwordhere;database=USTimeZones";
        string SQLiteconnectionString = "Data Source=" + Application.StartupPath + "\\pthData.sqlite;Version=3;";

        // open the input and output database
        SQLiteConnection SQLiteconnection = new SQLiteConnection(SQLiteconnectionString);
        try
        {
            SQLiteconnection.Open();
        }
        catch (SQLiteException ex)
        {
            string errorMessages = "A SQLite exception occurred on open.\n" + ex.Message;
            MessageBox.Show(errorMessages, "Convert");
            return;
        }
        MySqlConnection MySQLconnection = new MySqlConnection(MySQLconnectionString);
        try
        {
            MySQLconnection.Open();
        }
        catch (SqlException ex)
        {
            string errorMessages = "A MySQL exception occurred on open.\n" + ex.Message;
            MessageBox.Show(errorMessages, "Convert");
            return;
        }

        //Databases are not open, time to convert
        MySqlCommand cmdread = new MySqlCommand();
        cmdread.Connection = MySQLconnection;
        cmdread.CommandText = "Select * from USTimeZones";
        MySqlDataReader drread = null;

        SQLiteCommand cmdwrite = new SQLiteCommand();
        cmdwrite.Connection = SQLiteconnection;

        try
        {
            drread = cmdread.ExecuteReader();
            while (drread.Read())
            {
                drread["timezone"].ToString();
                cmd = "Insert into USTimeZones values ('" + drread["state"].ToString() + "','" +
                    drread["city"].ToString() + "','" + drread["county"].ToString() + "','" +
                    drread["timezone"].ToString() + "','" + drread["timetype"].ToString() + "','" +
                    drread["latitude"].ToString() + "','" + drread["longitude"].ToString() + "')";
                cmdwrite.CommandText = cmd;
                try
                {
                    cmdwrite.ExecuteNonQuery();
                    count++;
                }
                catch (SQLiteException ex)
                {
                    string errorMessages = "An SQL exception occurred on writing the SQLite record.\n" + ex.Message;
                    MessageBox.Show(errorMessages, "Convert");
                    SQLiteconnection.Close();
                    MySQLconnection.Close();
                    return;
                }

            }
        }
        catch (MySqlException ex)
        {
            string errorMessages = "A MySQL exception occurred reading records.\n" + ex.Message;
            MessageBox.Show(errorMessages, "Convert");
        }
        catch (Exception ex)
        {
            string errorMessages = "A General exception occurred reading records.\n" + ex.Message;
            MessageBox.Show(errorMessages, "Convert");
        }

        MessageBox.Show("Records written: " + count.ToString(), "Conversion complete");
        drread.Close();
        MySQLconnection.Close();
        SQLiteconnection.Close();

    }
}

}

Also there is a "SQL Server Compact/SQLite Toolbox" you can load from the Visual Studio NuGet Package Manager that I have found to be quite useful as well.