I also might add that while AIR’s SQLite command set is not only far superior to Zincs in the arena of end user options it also has the ability to not require any Flash content at all (let’s see Zinc create a desktop app with html/javascript) so while you’re actual line count might be higher…it would be anyway in an AS3 strictly typed enviro (say compared with AS2).

As for ease of use….I can safely say that right now there are more…available…downloadable…working sqlite examples…with source code than all existing wrappers combined. I see no bevy of working examples over at MDM and see a rather confused lot of forums posts related to the subject…especially as it relates to AS3. AIR has many examples of Flex/CS3 with SQLite and the SDK just got a major injection of them from Kevin Hoyt which are widely being included with IDE’s like Aptana.

For example…here is an example from Kevin which was originally made for html/javascript and the SDK (called “applied” distributed in Aptana) and ported to Flex in about five minutes. If you are familiar with SQLite and ZINC as you say…I’m really confused as to what is so confusing in AIR other than the fact AS3 requires more lines of code.

(I also recently posted a script from my AIR forum at my site in reply to a message there):

About the time of Apollocamp, I said that IMO two things were needed to make this platform really draw in existing projector/desktop cdevelopers (everything else is cream)…..embedded DB’s and internally handled encryption (not a third party class…but inherent to the API).

I got one wish….crossing my fingers for number two

I must admit before looking at your link I couldn’t think of a use-case for SQLite based local forum syncing, but seeing it in action makes it more apparent that yes “even forums” can benefit from it.

I also definitely think the ideas and use-cases that haven’t been thought of and documented yet will be the most interesting! Thanks for bringing your post to my attenention looks good

I do however think that while I nearly agree with the scenario assessments you mention as to when it’s viable to use SQLite vs a DBMS, I do think there will be situations where the use of both are not only benficial (say if I need to sync or localize an exact replica of an online DB for use in an offline situation) but also preferred if I want to only distribute selected portions of a DBMS to end users in an embedded form so it speeds up queries, negates server side interaction and is not dependent on a connection while still being able to correlate with it’s larger parent when the end user syncs up (since it’s structure is an exact replica of the DBMS but only comprised of the tables the developer chooses to distribute).

As a developer, I’m not so much excited about the fact I can create a standalone application with an embedded database since it’s not really new ground (ZINC, SWF Studio, etc already do it…and also use other localized DB types like Access) and while of course I will (and others) have need of that in the future, to me the real power is the ability to interact with a larger MySQL (for instance) database if I want and distribute whatever portion of that larger database I choose to localize. Syncronization routines, and applications that need them, will (at least to me) always be far more interesting to develop and what you will see the larger systems that adopt AIR begin to showcase as opposed to an address book app that simply interacts with a local DB. The things that AIR already does far and above what Flash/Flex users are used to with a commercial wrapper (dedicated html engine as opposed to a buggy ActiveX instance, etc, etc etc)…in conjunction with it’s internal ability to now interact with an SQLite DB…will absolutely drive this platform to the top of the heap IMO because what a lot of us Flashers always wanted to do with desktop applications is becoming a reality. The fact it also supports non Flash/Flex users and three targeted OS’s makes it a force to be reckoned with. I see a bright future for AIR indeed.

As far as using a forum for the example in the DBMS portion of the article….I think anything is fodder for localization…even forums ( http://www.flex-fanatic.com/index.php?cid=3&did=215 )

Chris