Thoughts on Valentina?

After reading through a recent conversation and recognizing the potential for getting a deal on Valentina through one of the Omegabundles (either mini or regular) I became curious about Valentina again.

If you use Valentina what are its advantages? If you don’t, why not?

The main benefit is the reporting server. As minor, you don’t need to get Xojo db licenses. For the performance, it is better than mysql. Also is free of charge as db engine.

I forgot to mention that you don’t need a mapper class as you need for other RDBMS for CRUD functions. Save/update/delete your data direct from your logical class. For me , this is the best benefit for using Valentina db like Nosql Object Databases.

I’ve used the reports and they are pretty decent report generator and it’s pretty easy to deploy with Xojo. I like the reports but the DB is really incredible! If you use the Valentina access methods instead of the Xojo Database methods the speed is amazing. To give you a comparison, I can take a standard Xojo listbox with 8 columns and load 30,000 records from a realsqldatabase in about 10 seconds. Loading the same listbox from a Valentina DB using the Valentina data access methods I can load it in about 2 seconds. Another advantage is that you only need about 3 lines of code to change from using the embedded server for a single user to using a standalone server for multiple users.

I’ve done performance comparisons against other databases in the past, and Valentina has beaten them every time, often by a lot.

This is a great product. For me, the biggest advantage is to be very well integrated to Xojo.
It is also a product that has long existed and is mature. The support is very effective.

Yes!

It’s free? I’m a bit confused as to the products they offer. The current mini bundle seems to have the “desktop” version and the regular bundle has the server version. So what’s the free part? Does that mean free to distribute?

Ok, this really appeals to me. I’ve got an ORM system on a web application that’s chewing up a lot of CPU. I’m either going to have to find ways to optimize those classes or just go straight to SQL.

Went to the Valentina registration page to register and try to get more info. It requires that I agree to the Terms of Service. But when I click on the link to read what those terms are it never renders anything… So, I didn’t register.

We[quote=35564:@Joseph Claeys]Went to the Valentina registration page to register and try to get more info. It requires that I agree to the Terms of Service. But when I click on the link to read what those terms are it never renders anything… So, I didn’t register.[/quote]

We’ve inserted some draconian ass-covering text there, just in case :slight_smile:

for me Mini

Valentina DB isn’t free, but there are several free options. Products are either ADKs or Servers, or Valentina Studio. ADKs are components embeddable in your application.

What might be a little confusing is that Valentina DB ADK is made up of two parts: the “client”, which is for communicating with a database (either a server or the db runtime) and then there is the local runtime component for local storage. The “client” part you can use for free with Valentina Server. That lets your application communicate with the server. You only need to buy Valentina DB ADK if you want to embed a local database in your application. We have a lot of customers in vertical markets that build custom data-intensive applications using Valentina DB ADK - these store data locally - but they may or may not also communicate with Valentina Server.

There is a 5 connection version of Valentina Server which is free for personal, non-commercial use (read the license, Im generalizing), but you aren’t allowed to redistribute it. Its a great way to kick the tires. There’s a separate product that lets you redistribute as many 5 connection versions of Valentina Server as you want. These are really good for SMB groupware applications since they are “unnamed”.

Also, the basic version of Valentina Studio is also free; the Pro version is $199, and it includes a lot of database management features including support for other dbs (MySQL, Postgre, SQLite, etc) and also includes Reports Editor for building your reports. Omegabundle Mini for Xojo 2013 includes one license of Valentina Studio Pro - Omegabundle (big one) for Xojo 2013 includes FIVE licenses.

I’ve always found the Valentina licensing as clear as mud. Exactly what do I need to create a Valentina report and include it into a Xojo/RS app?

@Kim Kohen:

Valentina ADK + Reports. Go to http://www.valentina-db.com/en/store, then Developer Products, then Reports ADK.

Yes, the website is a bit confusing.

I never understood why Xojo Inc. not working more closely with Valentina.
This is a superb product well integrated to Xojo, a lot better integrated than the own official database of Xojo.

By cons, marketing is not the best part of Valentina. The website is actually confused. It’s very annoying. They probably lose a lot of sales because of it.

Thanks for that.

Just to be clear, you are saying that to use the reporting engine with any database, one must buy both Valentina Database ADK and Valentina Reports ADK?

I think so. But it’s only the Valentina Reports ADK and not both. But you better ask Ruslan/Lynn.

The only thing which has prevented me from even trying to use Valentina is the somewhat confusing product and licensing structure - if there is any. What do I need as a Xojo developer? What do my clients need? What does it cost?

If after 10 minutes on a website this is still not clear, then I click it away.

That’s why I like cubeSQL : simple and clear.

This is true, the site is not clear about the licenses. But, if you are using Xojo Web, you can download free VServer DB with 5 simultaneously connections and to use the Valentina DB ADK (API) for Xojo, to connect your Xojo Web Application with VServer DB, which it can run on the same machine. All of these are FREE.

For local DB on Desktop applications, you will need to get license for DB ADK (around $199).

If you want reporting engine, you will need to have at least a license for Studio Pro ($199) and if you want for local reports, also a license for Reports ADK (other $199). For VServer DB, it is not needed any licenses for the reports, except to have licensed version of the Studio Pro, for the reports creation.

If you want to distribute the database with your application together (on installer), you will need a special license VDN with cost around $600. But is it needed for client server application? No, it is not needed, because your customer can download the free version of VServer with 5 connections. If he needs more connections, then he will buy them direct from Valentina. ( Not good for me !!!)

For me, it took more than two weeks until to understand their licenses plan. Don’t forget, that you dont need to buy the Xojo Licenses for DB Access ($300). This is good for us.

I will agree with Oliver, that we need to push Xojo Company, to come in cooperation with Lynn and Ruslan, because they have a better database solution for local Database, rather using Sqlite.

Also, we need to push Ruslan, to provide a MySQL/Progress database access through the existing API (they have already access for the reporting API) . If you agree, write on that forum. Maybe, something will be good for all of us.

BR/Antonis

So it would seem we don’t just need the Reports ADK (which isn’t even listed on the downloads page and is cryptically called v4RB) AND we also need a full copy of Valentina Studio; is that correct? I was once a full license holder of Valentina but after a while I got very frustrated trying to sort it all out. They REALLY need to clean up the licensing, and look closely at the design of the web site, the ‘docs’ wiki and the bug reporting - all of which I disliked when I was using Valentina (although admittedly it was a few years ago).

The shame of it is the database engine seemed fine, but back then the studio app crashed regularly and caused me quite a bit of grief. I’d had so many issues that Ruslan offered to send me a license for the new versions when it appeared but I never took it up as we decided it was easier to move to MySQL. There are a million tools for MySQL and its ubiquity means it has huge support. We’ve never looked back but the RS/Xojo reporting is pretty poor and we’d like a decent visual reporting option.

Ok, so I’m not alone here. That’s reassuring.