It’s tax season, and this year I decided to export my GnuCash data into a MySQL database for analysis. This article is about that process, including source code for the export script and a couple of simple queries. The source code is available on GitHub. The script GnuCash is a powerful double-entry accounting system for managing personal and/or business finances. I’ve used it since about 2002, and find it adequate for my needs.

This topic seems to come quite early - MySQL 5.0 (as GA release) is not even half a year old and MySQL 5.1 has just turned into beta.

But I've heard that MySQL 5.1 will be quite a quick release, so MySQL 5.2 is maybe not that far away.

So it could be a good moment to start to talk about the features that could be in MySQL 5.2. Some plans have already been published:

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/mysql-5-2-plans.html
http://blog.arabx.com.au/?p=111

(if you know more sources, please add them as comments ;-))

Maybe, someone could create a new forum where people can discuss what they would like to see inside MySQL 5.2. I'm sure, many people inside the MySQL Community (me included) have their favourite features. …

I had a tough time to choose from all those phantastic tutorials and sessions at the MySQL User Conference. Now I have a list of my top favourites, which I'd like to show you.

However, this is of course a very personal choice with very personal decisions, so I wouldn't like to call this recommandation or anything like this. Everybody is different, has different topics of interest and different expertises - so it's quite obvious that everybody would make different choices.

You can see how tough the choice was if you look at the "other favourites". It makes my heart bleed that so many interesting sessions (and of course, the tutorials, too) take place at the same time and it's not possible to watch all of them.

So here it is:

2006-04-24 08:30:00 - 2006-04-24 12:00:00

Secure Your PHP and MySQL Web Applications
…

I just uploaded the first clickable version of the diagram of the MySQL 5.1. information_schema database. Its right here: http://www.xcdsql.org/MySQL/information_schema/5.1/MySQL_5_1_INFORMATION_SCHEMA.html.

Apart from adding the new information schema tables (PARTITIONS, FILES, PLUGINS, PROCESSLIST, ENGINES) I also touched up the layout, modified the pagesize (in the visio file; you can now print it on A3 without much hassle), and added a relationship between SCHEMATA and TRIGGERS.

I will be maintaining both the 5.0 and the 5.1 version of the diagram from now on.

You might know that you can install a MySQL copy from the development source tree and that it's perfectly documented in the MySQL manual.

However, many people might not have tried it for themselves, maybe assuming that it's very complicated. But I can tell you, it's easier, as it looks - so maybe this little article can encourage you to give it a try ;-).

First you need a Linux PC (maybe the new gratis VMWare can help you to install Linux without losing your current installation). I have (quite an old) test PC with a Pentium processor (x86 architecture) with SuSE Linux 10.

First I created a directory for the MySQL 5.1 development source installation. I used /MySQL51 - you can put it anywhere you like, of course.

I also assume that you try it on a PC where security isn't such a big issue. So …

Meet us in Hall 3, Booth B46 (partner booth of MySQL)

Darn, I just noticed that PlanetMySQL renders the literal equivalents of the < and > entity references I use to display XML in my previous blog entry "Importing XML data into MySQL using ExtractData()".

This means the xml fragments, but also the calls to MySQL XML functions won't show at all, or only partially (only the text content seem to be rendered).

I wonder how other people've solved that...

The topic of storing binary data in MySQL rears it's head every so often, a debate always ensues about if and when it's appropriate, and fades out without any resolution. Sheeri posed the question again a few days ago.

We did this at Tufts, had ~1.5 million images (~35G) that were stored and served from a MyISAM binary_data table. I think the grass is always greener on the other side. The performance was decent, and we were able to use replication to spread load but we regularly talked about moving to an NFS.

I should mention that I presented about this at OSCON, and was fairly pro database for binary data. Since that presentation our image database has more than doubled in size, and we gained access to a fullly-reduntant, multi-terrabyte Network Appliance. Once we had some of our …

As of version 5.1.5, MySQL supports some functions for handling XML Data. One can debate the subject wheter a rdbms should ship with XML capabilities. I happen to like this feature.

Working with XML tends to be very data-oriented. In alot of cases, only a trivial mapping is required between the relational data and the xml representation. In these cases, it is certainly quite convenient to have all the tools that implement the mapping close at hand.

MySQL XML capabilities up to 5.0

In prior versions, MySQL XML support was limited to exporting data in XML format using the MySQL command line client. All you need to do is start the mysql client utilitiy with the --xml or -X …

I managed to get my hands on a fairly cool device, the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet.  The picture above doesn't do it justice, but it's a small Internet tablet with built-in WiFi and a beautful crisp screen running 800x480 resolution. It weights just 8 ounces (230 grams) and can be easily carried in a jacket pocket.  Since the device is from Nokia, you might guess that it has basic phone capabilities or GPRS based web surfing, but it doesn't.  However, if you have a bluetooth enabled phone, you can surf via your phone. 

After a couple of days experimenting, I don't think this will replace my existing Palm Treo phone or Sony Vaio laptop, but I'm still impressed with it.  It offers the …