Getting Started

This topic will give you some start information about db4o and will help you to get your environment ready to work with db4o.

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.NET Platform

The db4o .NET distribution comes as one MSI installer file,db4o-x.x-net.msi. You can also choose to download db4o-x.x-net.zip archive. In this case you will have to extract the contents to any folder before starting to use db4o.

db4o-X.X/doc/reference 

contains reference documentation, which you are reading. 

In addition to it you will find the following docs in your distribution:

db4o-X.X/doc/tutorial/db4o-tutorial.exe

This is the interactive "formula-1" tutorial application for .NET. Examples can be run "live" against a db4o database from within the application. It is recommended to take a first quick "drive" with "formula-1" before studying other db4o documents.

db4o-X.X/doc/tutorial/db4o-X.X-tutorial.pdf

The PDF version of the tutorial allows best fulltext search capabilities.

db4o-X.X/doc/api/db4o.chm

The API documentation for db4o is supplied as a compiled Help file. While you read through the rest of this documentation, it may be helpful to look into the API documentation occasionaly.

Additional online resources are available here: http://developer.db4o.com/Resources

The db4o Engine

 

The db4o object database engine for .NET platforms consists of one single DLL. This is all that you need to program against.

db4o is available in two separate distributions for Microsoft .NET. One distribution is for the .NET Framework 1.1 and the other is for the .NET Framework 2.0. Be sure to use the correct one for your project environment.

/db4o-X.X/bin/net[-2.0]/Db4objects.Db4o.dll

is the standard db4o engine for the .NET framework.

/db4o-X.X/bin/compact[-2.0]/Db4objects.Db4o.dll

is built for the .NET CompactFramework.

Since version 6.0 you will also see legacy libraries in the distribution. These are provided for users, which are not ready yet to upgrade their applications for the new db4o syntax. See v6.0 Release Notes for more information.

Installation 

Visual Studio Installation

To use db4o in a development project, you only need to add one of the above db4o.dll files to your project references.

Here is how to do this with Visual Studio .NET:

  • copy Db4objects.Db4o.dll to your VS.NET project folder
  • right-click on "References" in the Solution Explorer
  • choose "Add Reference"
  • select "Browse"
  • find the Db4objects.Db4o.dll in your project folder
  • click "Open"
  • click "OK"
  • Right-click db4o
  • Choose "Properties"
  • Set "Copy Local" to "True" if it is not already set.

Mono Installation

To use db4o in a development project, you only need to add Db4objects.Db4o.dll file to your project references.

Here is how to do this if you are using MonoDevelop:

  • Right-click on "References" in the Solution Tab
  • choose "Edit References"
  • select the ".NET Assembly" tab and then "Browse"
  • select /usr/lib/db4o/Db4objects.Db4o.dll
  • click "Open"
  • click "OK"