* MySQL Data Provider

 <p>There are two ADO.NET providers in Mono 
 for a <a href="http://www.mysql.com/">MySQL</a> database:

<ul>
	<li><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/mysqlnet/">ByteFX.Data.MySQLClient</a>
		<ul>
			<li>Written in 100% C#</li>
			<li>Does not require a client library</li>
			<li>Works on Mono and Microsoft .NET</li>
			<li>Requires at least Mono 0.18 and MySQLNet 0.65 for it to work on Mono</li>
			<li>Works in the SQL# command-line and GTK# GUI version</li>
		</ul>
	</li>

	<li>Mono.Data.MySql (deprecated)
		<ul>
			<li>Deprecated in favor of ByteFX.Data.MySQLClient
		
			<li>Written in C# and uses
				the MySQL C Client Library</li>

			<li>Exists in namespace Mono.Data.MySql and assembly Mono.Data.MySql</li>
	
			<li>Works on Windows and Linux via the MySQL client shared library
				(libmySQL.dll on Windows and libmysqlclient.so on Linux).</li>
	    
			<li>Started by Daniel Morgan using 
				<a href="http://www.cybercom.net/~zbrad/DotNet/MySql/">C# Bindings to MySQL</a> from <a href="mailto:zbrad@cybercom.net">Brad Merill</a></li>
		</ul>
	</li>
	
	<li>Bugs with Mono or the data provider should be reported 
	in Mono's Bugzilla <a href="http://bugzilla.ximian.com/">here</a>.  If you
	do not have Bugzilla user account, it is free 
	and easy to 
	create one <a href="http://bugzilla.ximian.com/createaccount.cgi">here</a>.</li>
	
</ul>

 <p><a href="http://www.mysql.com/articles/dotnet/">Exploring MySQL 
 in the Microsoft .NET Environment</a> is an article
 by Mr. Venu who is a MySQL AB developer.</li>

 <p>Testing for Mono's Mono.Data.MySql and ByteFX's ByteFX.Data.MySqlClient is below.
    
** Current Status

 Current Status of the MySQL providers:

<ul>

	<li>ByteFX.Data.MySqlClient
		<ul>
			<li>Build and Runs on Microsoft .NET and Mono</li>
			<li>Works with SQL# (command-line and GTK# GUI versions)</li>
			<li>MySQLCommandBuilder now implemented</li>
			<li>Transaction support now implemented (not all table types support this)</li>
			<li>GetSchemaTable fixed to not use xsd (for Mono)</li>
			<li>Driver is now Mono-compatible</li>
			<li>TIME data type now supported</li>
			<li>More work to improve Timestamp data type handling</li>
			<li>Changed signatures of all classes to match corresponding SqlClient classes</li>
			<li>Protocol compression  using <a href="http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SharpZipLib/default.asp">SharpZipLib</a></li>
			<li>Named pipes on Windows now working properly</li>
			<li>Work done to improve Timestamp data type handling</li>
			<li>Implemented IEnumerable on DataReader so DataGrid would work</li>
			<li>Speed increased dramatically by removing bugging network sync code</li>
			<li>Driver no longer buffers rows of data (more ADO.Net compliant)</li>
			<li>Conversion bugs related to TIMESTAMP and DATETIME fields fixed</li>
			
		</ul>
	</li>
	
	<li>Mono.Data.MySql (deprecated)
		<ul>
			<li>Currently, only works with version 3.23.x of MySQL</li>
		
			<li>can connect</li>
	
			<li>can execute non-queries via ExecuteNonQuery()</li>
	
			<li>can execute aggregates via ExecuteScalar() and retrieve the
				single row/single column result</li>
	
			<li>can execute queries and retrieve results using a data reader.</li>
	
			<li>a schema DataTable has been partially 
				implemented which is returned from GetSchemaTable() in MySqlDataReader.</li>
	
			<li>a DataTable in a DataSet can be filled via a MySqlDataAdapter</li>
		
			<li>The shared client libraries 
				between windows version and linux are different: windows has libmySQL.dll 
				while linux has libmysqlclient.so.  This is handled by the 
				file etc/mono/config which is mapped by the mono runtime in knowing
				which native shared library to load.  In cvs, this file is mono/config.in and
				can be modified with a text editor.</li>
	
			<li>Works in the SQL# command-line and GTK# GUI version</li>
		</ul>
	</li>
	
</ul>

** Action plan

 The current plan for the MySQL data providers:
 
 <ul>
	<li>ByteFX.Data.MySqlClient
		<ul>
			<li>Testing and fixes</li>
			<li>Implement missing features</li>
			<li>Only fixes for bugs to build and run MySQLClient on Mono
			will be accepted in mono-cvs.  Most bugs and any new features will
			go into sourceforge cvs.  Anytime there is a release of MySQLClient,
			the source code will be copied from sourceforge cvs to mono-cvs</li>
			<li>Releases of MySQLClient are determined by Reggie Burnett and releases
			of Mono are determined by Miguel de Icaza</li>
			<li>Implement any missing features or fix any bugs in Mono to get new
			features all of MySQLClient to work on Mono</li>
		</ul>
	</li>
	<li>Mono.Data.MySql (deprecated)
		<ul>
			<li>Testing and bug fixes</li>
			<li>Mono.Data.MySql is deprecated and therefore maybe removed
			at a later date.  It will stay in Mono for now because other
			programs maybe using it now.</li>
		</ul>
	</li>
</ul>

** Testing for MySQLNet provider (ByteFX.Data.MySQLClient)

<ul>
	<li>Have access to a MySQL database or download it from
		<ul>
			<li><a href="http://www.mysql.com/downloads/index.html">MySQL AB</a></li>
		</ul>
	</li>
	
	<li>MySQLNet can be gotten from <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/mysqlnet/">here</a> and the 
	binary assembly ByteFX.Data.dll needs to be	installed 
	in the same place as the mono class libraries.</li>
	
	<li>MySQLNet requires <a href="http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SharpZipLib/default.asp">SharpZipLib</a> which is 
	a Zip Library written in 100% C#.  This is used for compression/decompression of data
	sent/received over the network.  The SharpZipLib binary assembly SharpZipLib.dll should 
	be installed in the same place as the mono class libraries.</li>
	
	<li>Has a ConnectionString format: 
<pre>
"Server=hostname;" +
"Database=database;" +
"User ID=username;" +
"Password=password"
</pre>
	</li>
	<li>C# Example:
<pre>
 using System;
 using System.Data;
 using ByteFX.Data.MySqlClient;
 
 public class Test 
 {
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
       string connectionString = 
          "Server=localhost;" +
          "Database=test;" +
          "User ID=myuserid;" +
          "Password=mypassword;";
       IDbConnection dbcon;
       dbcon = new MySqlConnection(connectionString);
       dbcon.Open();
       IDbCommand dbcmd = dbcon.CreateCommand();
       // requires a table to be created named employee
       // with columns firstname and lastname
       // such as,
       //        CREATE TABLE employee (
       //           firstname varchar(32),
       //           lastname varchar(32));
       string sql = 
           "SELECT firstname, lastname " +
           "FROM employee";
       dbcmd.CommandText = sql;
       IDataReader reader = dbcmd.ExecuteReader();
       while(reader.Read()) {
            string FirstName = (string) reader["firstname"];
            string LastName = (string) reader["lastname"];
            Console.WriteLine("Name: " + 
                  FirstName + " " + LastName);
       }
       // clean up
       reader.Close();
       reader = null;
       dbcmd.Dispose();
       dbcmd = null;
       dbcon.Close();
       dbcon = null;
    }
 }
</pre>
	</li>
	<li>Building C# Example:
	<ul>
		<li>Save the example to a file, such as, TestExample.cs</li>
		<li>Build on Linux:
<pre>
	mcs TestExample.cs -r System.Data.dll \
	    -r ByteFX.Data.dll
</pre>
		</li>
		<li>Build on Windows via Cygwin:
<pre>
	mono C:/cygwin/home/MyHome/mono/install/bin/mcs.exe \
	     TestExample.cs \
	     -lib:C:/cygwin/home/MyHome/mono/install/lib \
	     -r System.Data.dll -r ByteFX.Data.dll
</pre>
		</li>
	</ul>
	</li>
	<li>Running the Example:
<pre>
mono TestExample.exe
</pre>
	</li>

</ul>

** Testing for Mono's MySQL provider (Mono.Data.MySql)

<ul>
	<li>Have access to a MySQL database or download it from
		<ul>
			<li><a href="http://www.mysql.com/downloads/index.html">MySQL AB</a></li>
		</ul>
	</li>
	
	<li>Take a look at MySqlTest.cs in mcs/class/Mono.Data.MySql/Test</li>
	<li>On Linux, you may need to make a symbolic link from libmySQL.dll to libmysqlclient.dll</li>
	
	<li>Has a ConnectionString format: 
<pre>
 "Server=hostname;Database=database;User ID=username;Password=password"
         (or)
 "Host=hostname;Dbname=database;User=username;Passwd=password"
</pre>

	<li>C# Example:
<pre>
 using System;
 using System.Data;
 using Mono.Data.MySql;
 
 public class Test 
 {
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
       string connectionString = 
          "Server=localhost;" +
          "Database=test;" +
          "User ID=myuserid;" +
          "Password=mypassword;";
       IDbConnection dbcon;
       dbcon = new MySqlConnection(connectionString);
       dbcon.Open();
       IDbCommand dbcmd = dbcon.CreateCommand();
       // requires a table to be created named employee
       // with columns firstname and lastname
       // such as,
       //        CREATE TABLE employee (
       //           firstname varchar(32),
       //           lastname varchar(32));
       string sql = 
            "SELECT firstname, lastname " + 
            "FROM employee";
       dbcmd.CommandText = sql;
       IDataReader reader = dbcmd.ExecuteReader();
       while(reader.Read()) {
            string FirstName = (string) reader["firstname"];
            string LastName = (string) reader["lastname"];
            Console.WriteLine("Name: " + 
                 FirstName + " " + LastName);
       }
       // clean up
       reader.Close();
       reader = null;
       dbcmd.Dispose();
       dbcmd = null;
       dbcon.Close();
       dbcon = null;
    }
 }
</pre>
	</li>
	<li>Building C# Example:
	<ul>
		<li>Save the example to a file, such as, TestExample.cs</li>
		<li>Build on Linux:
<pre>
	mcs TestExample.cs \
	    -r System.Data.dll \
	    -r Mono.Data.MySql.dll
</pre>
		</li>
		<li>Build on Windows via Cygwin:
<pre>
	mono C:/cygwin/home/MyHome/mono/install/bin/mcs.exe \
	     TestExample.cs \
	     -lib:C:/cygwin/home/MyHome/mono/install/lib \
	     -r System.Data.dll \
	     -r Mono.Data.MySql.dll
</pre>
		</li>
	</ul>
	</li>
	<li>Running the Example:
<pre>
mono TestExample.exe
</pre>
	</li>

</ul>