I am evaluating options for a desktop app which needs to support both Windows and Mac, and given the resources we have available, it seems that Silverlight might be the best option. We would be looking at building a Silverlight 4 Out Of Browser app and using something similar to what is described here to make a Mac installer.
However one major sticking point I can see is that the app will need local data storage, and by far the most useful way of storing said data would be in a local relational database (requirements are probably in the ballpark of hundreds of thousands of records, in ten or tables, in a very relational structure).
I’ve done some searching and found some options mentioned in the past, but in quite old questions so I’m not sure the information is current.
- siaqodb – object database engine with LINQ querying
- Sterling – NoSQL database that can use memory, isolated storage, even the local file system to persist data
Before I get my hands dirty doing some experiments, can anyone offer any guidance on (a) whether siaqodb and/or Sterling will work in a Mac Out Of Browser environment storing data on the local filesystem, and (b) how “ready for prime time” siaqodb and Sterling are for commercial software development?
(I’m involved in Siaqodb project so full disclosure). We believe that Siaqodb is one of the most used client side database engine for Silverlight. It does fully support OOB on Windows and on Mac by storing data in “My…” folders for SL4 and starting with SL5 you can store anywhere on client machine. See here what companies use Siaqodb. We are working now on the version 3.X which will bring extra features and soon extra supported platform.