Blue Elephant Referee Scheduler

Using MySQL

Intro:

MySQL is a popular, open source implementation of a SQL Relational Database. It supports a significant portion of the ANSI SQL99 standard. Versions exist for numerous operating systems, including Linux and Windows, and in combination with support tools such as the MySQL Control Center, MySQL is portable, flexibile, and easy to use.

Motivation:

The Blue Elephant Referee Scheduler functionally requires a persistent data layer, and MySQL is a well-known database supported by Java and Hibernate. Easy access to databases avoids the dangers of designing, reading, parsing, and writing local files to store application data. MySQL lacks features found in commercially available databases, but it compensates with raw speed. Furthermore, members of the Blue Elephant team began the Referee Scheduler project with prior MySQL experience, which eased the learning curve and simplified tools integration.

Usage:

All of the Referee Scheduler's user and game data is stored in a MySQL database. Hibernate interacts with the MySQL database to search, insert, and retreive data within the web application. Transactions are an important feature provided by MySQL, and every database interaction in the Referee Scheduler application is protected by them. Transactions require that the tables in the database are designed with the InnoDB type.

Links:

MySQL Homepage: http://www.mysql.com

MySQL Documentation: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/index.html

MySQL InnoDB Pages: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/InnoDB.html