Just wondering whether anyone has any views on whether DevArt MySQL is > MySQL Connector ? In the past, when I have used MySQL - the MySQL Connector really sucked for C# ASP.NET development work.
Can anyone please provide an opinion on whether its better to use DevArt or ?
I've just started using the DevArt MySQL connector and it seem to be good so far. One issue that I've discovered, though, is that it doesn't seem to offer the equivalent of a MySqlDateTime type. This means timestamps must map to the DateTime .NET type and the consequence is that a 'zero' timestamp cannot be represented as such and is converted to 01-01-0001 on the .NET side.
Something else you should be aware of is that the (non-DevArt) MySQL connector is GPL and so if you want to use it from a non-open-source application, you must apply for special permission. This was doable when Sun owned MySQL, but the process appears to be more complicated now that it's owned by Oracle. You must first sign up as an Oracle partner and their web site suggests a 'Gold' membership for driver integration which costs $2500 per year. It's not clear whether this is mandatory and whether your application will be considered with a free membership. I've also been unable to use their partner sign-up web page - it appears to be broken and they haven't responded to a query that I sent them on this. In short, $100 or so is looking very cheap for DevArt's connector.
6-month update: DevArt's connector has been working well and I continue to recommend it. And Oracle have confirmed to me that they require $2500 per year to permit use of their MySQL driver with non-open-source software.