A native Database Driver for MySQL

If you use OpenOffice.org Base to connect to your MySQL database, you probably know that OOo's existing implementation requires you to install an additional driver – either the Connector/ODBC or the Connector/J from the MySQL site. OpenOffice.org itself wraps the external driver, to accommodate to some peculiarities.

Well, this is neither convenient (ever installed an ODBC driver on Unix?), nor efficient, plus prone to losing functionality in the different involved abstraction layers.

Yesterday, our friends over there at MySQL announced a preview release of the MySQL Connector/OpenOffice, a dedicated, native driver which implements OpenOffice.org's database access API, providing access to your MySQL databases.

So, if you're an MySQL and an OpenOffice.org user, this preview release is for you. Get it, try it out, and give us feedback how it worked for you.

The driver comes in the form of an OpenOffice.org extension, to be installed in OpenOffice.org 2.4. For the moment, only versions for Linux and Windows exist, with the final release, this will be extended to all platforms supported by OpenOffice.org itself. Please note you're discouraged from using the extension in the developer snapshots of the upcoming 3.0 release – it might or might not work there, chances for not working are higher the more both release branches diverge.

Find the MySQL Connector/OpenOffice site, having all the above information, and more, at http://forge.mysql.com/wiki/Connector_OpenOffice. Download the connector at http://downloads.mysql.com/forge/openoffice_preview. And do not forget to give us your feedback in Base's mailing list: users@dba.openoffice.org.

tags: base mysql openoffice.org

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