In the past, I've always used MS Access as a database because I found the connection easy to set up and it is the only database software we have in school. Now I have read that it is not 'good practice' to use MS Access as a DB source at all. Now I want to move over to an 'acceptable' database type. I have identified MySQL as probably the best choice and I have used it successfully with the MySQL server running. The problem is: Using Access allowed me to bundle my .mdb file with the application and the jar with the database driver and it would work on any machine on which my app is installed. MySQL seems to need the MySQL server running to access the database. This is a problem because an end user would not want to worry about setting up a database server before using any off-the-shelf software. How can I set MySQL up so that I can bundle the .sql file in my distribution and have
java access it transparently without the user having to set up the server?
If I am on the wrong track here, please direct me as to what other type of database is the best to use for desktop applications so that the database connection can 'just work' on every computer my software gets installed on? Which database do Java developers generally use when creating 'out of the box' applications?
PS I work in NetBeans 6.5
Thanks