[R] R and filemaker pro DB

[Sean Davis]

On 1/13/06 7:08 AM, "Michael Bibo" <mbibo at aanet.com.au> wrote:

> I have been looking for a database application to use in conjunction with R
> (on
> a Windows network).  When I approached my organization's IT department to ask
> about using MySQL, they made a counter-offer of Filemaker Pro (v8).  It is not
> specifically mentioned in 'R Data Import/Export', nor do searches of the
> archives turn up much information.
> 
> Does anyone have any experience using Filemaker Pro with R?
> Should package RODBC work with Filemaker, as it is odbc-compliant? (I will be
> doing some trials anyway).
> Any other relevant advice welcome.

I have used Fmpro via RODBC a bit.  I also use MySQL and PostgreSQL quite a
bit with R.  For smaller datasets, Fmpro is probably fine, but for larger
datasets (more than a few thousand rows), fmpro is pretty slow compared to a
dedicated SQL server.  Also, there is a great deal of flexibility in
database design, tuning, backup, and "enterpriseness".  However, note that
SQL servers do not come with GUI front ends like fmpro, so if you are
building a database for "use" other than data management, fmpro is a good
quick solution.  So, I would do what you suggest you are going to do and set
up both MySQL or PostgreSQL and fmpro and see which better meets your needs.
They are quite different in many ways, though.

Sean