For anyone working with multiple database engines, regularly switching between different apps to manage them can be a pain.

DBeaver is a free database management application which works with many different engines including MySQL, MSSQL, Oracle, SQLite, Sybase, Firebird and much more.

As the application is built with Java, it works in all major operating systems (Windows, Mac & Linux).

It can handle all the major tasks like metadata editing (tables, columns, keys, indexes), custom SQL execution, users management, multiple connections, etc.

We can draw ER diagrams for database modeling, and, the app is soon to be open sourced.

Tiny Tiny RSS is an open source and web-based feed reader application that offers a desktop-like user experience.

It is built with PHP, uses MySQL or PostgreSQL for storing data and makes use of the Magpie and SimplePie libraries (check PHP RSS Parsers) for fetching the feeds.

The interface is completely Ajaxed, there is support for RSS, RDF + Atom and protected/authenticated feeds can be read as well.

Tiny Tiny RSS not only fetches data but can re-publish them as well (again as a RSS feed). The data is also reachable via a JSON-based API.

The application supports multiple users, it is multilingual and has a mobile-version as well.

And, there are many other features like OPML import/export, keyboard shortcuts, duplicate content filtering or article scoring.

Bricolage is an open-source and enterprise-class content management system that makes creating, managing and publishing content very easy.

It is built with Perl, uses MySQL or PostgreSQL for storing data and has a powerful templating system (Mason, Template Toolkit, or PHP).

With the help of this templating system and the flexibility offered on every step, it is possible to build any type of websites.

Bricolage has a group and permission based user management system that eases working as a team where some users can be editors, others being designers, etc.

Besides many other standard CMS features, there is a very handy and built-in alert system which can be setup for many events like an article going online, being edited, etc. to get notified instantly.

Also, there is a well-documented API which enables you to pull and push any type of data from the system.

DaDaBIK is an open source and mature PHP application for creating a customizable database front-end without coding.

Within minutes, you can create a basic CRUD (create, read, update, delete) application or dive into its features to build a more complicated one.

It doesn't generate a PHP script, stores the settings and can easily adapt to changes made in the database schema.

The application works with MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle + MS SQL Server and has features like choosing:

• if the field must be included or not in a search/insert/update form and results table
• labels
• content format (e.g. numeric, alphabetic, e-mail, url…)of a field
• the HTML input type (e.g. textbox, menu, date, rich text editor, password box…)
• the possible values, also driven from another table (foreign key support)
• and much more…

Some other exciting features include:

• master/details view (attaching 2 or more tables to each other like choosing a user from "users" table and seeing his orders from "orders" table)
• file uploading
• exporting to CSV
• e-mail notices

DaDaBIK is multilingual with support for 10+ languages.

There are many database editors with advanced features, but sometimes, a smaller and simpler tool is all we need.

DBKiss is a MySQL and PostgreSQL manager application that is only a single PHP file.

It has most of the features you can ask for including:

• import/export of data
• searching of the whole database or single tables
• an advanced SQL editor
• saving of templates
• multi-query execution with pagination

Also, it is compatible with MySQL versions 3.23 through 5.x and PHP 4 or 5.

Simply, it is a must-have for every developer, specially for the ones who need to work with different databases from time-to-time and need a quick solution.

OTRS is an open source trouble ticket system for easily managing support requests in a multi-agent interface.

The application can auto-convert e-mails into tickets (e-mail piping) which "eliminates the need of using the web interface" for customers.

OTRS is used by large organizations like Opera, MySQL AB, BitDefender, Suse & has very nice features like:

• transfer of tickets between agents
• auto-calculation of hours worked on a ticket
• powerful reporting
• canned responses
• multilanguage support
• themable web interface
• role-based user management
• & much more..

OTRS is built with Perl & can work with different databases (e. g. MySQL, PostgeSQL, Oracle, DB2 and MSSQL).

It has one-click installers for multiple operating systems (including Windows).

Almost every web developer has a favorite database that he/she feels comfortable working with as all the tricks & gimmicks are already experienced.

It can be one of the popular databases below:

• MySQL
• PostgreSQL
• MSSQL
• SQLite
• MS Access

or even simpler ones like XML, text, etc.

It is understandable why these databases are frequently used; they are well-documented, have a community behind them, integrated with most popular CMSs', easy-to-use, offered by most of the hosting companies ,etc..

But there are also many other databases which are getting popular day-by-day & may have advantages over what you're already using.

Here are 25+ open source alternative databases that you may consider using in your next project:

MongoDB

It is an open source, high-performance, scalable, schema-free & document-oriented (JSON-like data schemas) database.

There are ready to use drivers for most popular programming languages like PHP,Python, Perl, Ruby, JavaScript, C++ + more.

Hypertable

Hypertable is a high performance distributed data storage system designed to support applications requiring maximum performance, scalability, and reliability.

It is modeled after Google's BigTable and mostly focuses on large-scale datasets.

Apache CouchDB

A document-oriented database that can be queried and indexed in a MapReduce fashion using JavaScript.

CouchDB offers a RESTful JSON API which can be accessed from any environment allowing HTTP requests

Read the rest of this entry »

Crystal is a database toolkit for PHP which aims to help developers build & scale reusable, database-dependent, framework-agnostic applications.

It has 3 independent components:

• Database wrapper – for CRUD operations
• Validation module – provides a comprehensive data validation
• Database manipulation module – used for creating databases, tables, etc.

The queries written with Crystal are database-independent which currently supports MySQL & PostgreSQL (SQLite is on the way).

For anyone who is familiar with SQL, learning Crystal wouldn't take no more than 5 minutes.

And, for many developers, it can be an option against framework-specific database layers like Zend_Db and Codeigniter's active record library or complex ORM's like Doctrine.

InDefero is an open source software forge application, built with PHP, that enables anyone to create a multi-project Google Code/Sourceforge-like system to manage their codes.

It eases tracking bugs, providing downloads, documentation and having an easy overview of the code base both for you & your team.

Also, it makes communicating with the user-base possible which is vital for a healthy development process.

InDefero has other powerful features like:

• every user has their personal dashboards
• code browser with git, Subversion & Mercurial support
• project timeline
• powerful search engine
• diff visualization of the commits
• inline display of text files from the repository with syntax highlighting
• & much more..

It requires a webserver supporting PHP as module or fast-cgi & PostgreSQL, SQLite or MySQL 4.1+ as the database to run.

Last week, a post had announced the giveaway of a Navicat Premium license ($369/value) to a lucky WRD reader. The winner is selected. But before that, to remind:

Navicat Premium is a cross-browser database admin tool which can manage MySQL, PostgreSQL & Oracle within a single application.

Data & tables stored in any type of supported databases can be converted into another very easily which makes working with multiple database types so easy.

The application also comes with the standard & handy features of other Navicat products like:

• advanced import/ export wizard
• query builder
• report builder
• data synchronization
• backup
• job scheduler
• & more

Special 50% Discount to WebResourcesDepot Readers:

Navicat is offering a 50% discount to WRD readers for Navicat Premium. To get the discount, you need to choose the "Shareit" as the payment option and use the coupon code: webpre50.

Note: Discount will be available for 1 more week (until 17 July 2009).

The Winner Of Navicat Premium License Giveaway:

The query below is used:

SELECT * FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_post_id=1028 AND comment_approved=1 AND comment_type='' GROUP BY comment_author_email ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1

& the winner is "aj (comment #58688)". Congratulations to the winner & thanks to everyone for joining the giveaway.