stefcl wrote:

I tried firebird a while ago and finally gave up. Here are the main reasons:

-No case/accent insensitive collations... When I asked if it was possible on community forums I was answered that I was a n00b, that "Hello" or "hEllo" are not the same... I DO know that but how do I tell my customers that when they are doing a search for a customer they have to type the first letters of his name exactly the way it was entered? The best I found was to use the upper() function but it's not satisfying enough because the indexes are ignored!

I haven't checked firebird 2, but it would surprise me if they don't have a case insensitive collation.

-No identity/ auto-increment column type, you have to deal with generators and triggers... It isn't very comfortable.

Triggers aren't needed. Just specify the sequences (generators) with the entity field in the llblgen pro designer

-I couldn't find decent free managing tools, database designers...

IB Expert home edition is free.

-I couldn't find consistent and up to date SQL reference with all functions and their use explained.

Check the interbase 6.0 pdfs, from ibphoenix.com. There are few differences between fb and interbase 6, most of them are very minor.

Maybe things are different today, I'll check that because the possibility to choose between server or embedded mode is very interesting in my case. (A good percentage of my customers have both the client app and the database server running in the same weak celeron-based computer.)

But for now, if I had to choose a lightweight DBMS, I think I would go for the lastest SQL server CE.

If you want my opinion, I'd opt for firebird embedded over sqlserver ce ANY day. Hardly have I ever seen such a piece of useless bytes as sqlserver CE. (of which the db management tools are also not free ).

sqlserver ce desktop is a direct port of the windows ce version, which uses the same sqlserverce client, and THAT alone is a stupid decision: there's no upgrade path where you can switch from ce desktop to sqlserver 2005 by changing the connection string for example. Ok, you can with llblgen pro and adapter, but it's still a bit of a pain (not all types are supported etc.). There's completely NO reason why there are so much limitations on sqlserver ce other than 'money'.

You can use Management studio express which is free and redistributable if you take time to register it. I totally agree that not being able to easily switch between sql server and sql compact is disappointing.

After having read your post, I did some research on the lastest firebird release. Still no CI_AI collations (except spanish and brazilian) but there is a new feature called "expression Index" which allows you for example to index the result of UPPER(colname) so efficient case insensitive search is now possible. Anyhow, fb version 2.1 (currently beta) will come with an official UTF-8 case insensitive collation! (great news)