[IronPython] Fwd: example of using IronPython with MS Access database (.mdb)?

[Vernon Cole]

(A copy for the group.  Peter did not wish to possibly embarrass me, for
which I thank him.)
--
Vernon
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Vernon Cole <vernondcole at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, May 24, 2010 at 2:29 PM
Subject: Re: [IronPython] example of using IronPython with MS Access
database (.mdb)?
To: Peter Masiar <peter.masiar at gmail.com>


Peter:
  The _code_ of adodbapi is stable and mature. It has been used for several
years in the management of slot machines in several large Nevada casinos
where I used to work. Unfortunately, I made a clumsy error on the last
_release_ of the code (I seem to have erased adodbapi.py along with
adodbapi.pyc when I created the zip file after testing.)

Now, having made that claim of maturity, the latest version has undergone
some pretty extensive refactoring, so I'ld really appreciate it if you DO
find something wrong, please let me know.

The API is not so much _better_ as it is _standardized_. You state that
portability is not important to you. Therefore, any benefit you would see
from adodbapi would be in ease of use. It does a lot of work to
automatically convert system data into pythonic types, for example. Also the
extensions often make things pretty nice. In the last release, I added NAMED
parameters, so you don't need to count question marks in a complex query or
worry about parameter order. You can use the cursor as a Python iterator to
read multiple rows, etc.

You are also correct about the installation instructions not being easy to
find. The IronPython distribution is a bit of an afterthought, I am afraid.
Most users are in the CPython camp, so they get adodbapi installed "for
free" as part of pywin32. I was using adodbapi extensively in my work, but
corporate headquarters preferred IronPython to CPython, so I made the port
to keep them happy. With some effort, I managed to do it in the source tree,
rather than branch the code, so the IPy version stays up to date with
changes. That's the reason for the seeming light treatment of IronPython
users. Adodbapi is the only part of pywin32 which is intended to also run in
IronPython.  Pywin32 has its own installer. Perhaps I should write a small
setup.py and add it to the zip.

The IronPython installation instructions are:
 1) Unzip the file.
 2) Create a site-packages folder under the Lib folder in your Python
distribution (or provide some other entry on the Python search path if you
wish and know how)
 3) Copy the contents of the zip file there.
On my computer, I have:
   'c:\\program files\\IronPython 2.6 for .NET
4.0\\lib\\site-packages\\adodbapi'

On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 11:51 AM, Peter Masiar <peter.masiar at gmail.com>wrote:

> Vernon,
>
> I found adodbapi during my search, but was not sure how stable it is
> for production.
> And your email did not helped to disperse my worries :-) so I posted
> my reply in private, not to the whole list....
>
> Is new API so much better and improved that it is worth the risk? Is
> there some comparison?
> Because the portability is not too important to me. My data are more
> important that cool features.
>
> BTW I did not find some prominently placed note how to install
> adodbapi into stock install of IronPython (and if it is even possible)
> - download looks like a zip file with no instruction for clueless
> people like me - maybe for a reason? ;-)
>
> On Mon, May 24, 2010 at 1:16 PM, Vernon Cole <vernondcole at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Or, if you wish to use the standard python PEP249 api for your JET data
> > (thus making your program portable), you get a copy of
> > http://sourceforge.net/projects/adodbapi and use a connection string
> like
> > the sample in the .tests folder.
> >
> > If you tried this in the last two weeks (version 2.3.0), and got a dismal
> > failure, its because I messed up the latest distribution .zip file. That
> was
> > corrected on Friday.
> > --
> > Vernon Cole
> >
> >
> --
> -----
> Peter Masiar
>
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