how can I save and load information in a desktop inventory application C#?

Question

Im developing this desktop app for study reasons

but im using SQL Server for database management so reading around the web i find some articles on this and why it is bad practice, i cannot move my entire project to another PC without installing SQL Server. then i find this:

Save and load inventory

So i don't know what method of saving and loading information I need for this project, I think in SQL Lite or maybe I can use a simple file to save all the information like the mentioned post.

Im using a DB with relationships and i dont know if i can made it with a data persistence file. What should I do? what is the best practice?

PD: Sorry for my bad english

Answer 1

Usually your SQL Server would be hosted on a remote computer when used outside development, but it depends on exactly what your application is supposed to do.

If it's a requirement for you to be able to switch computers, and not host your database on a remote server, I'd say using SQLite is a good choice.

Alternatively, you could have 1 big file that has all your data instead of a relational database, although I wouldn't really recommend it. It's good for quick prototyping of things, but all your data would be denormalized, which can end up being more effort to work with than SQL. This is what the inventory example you linked does.

Answer 2

If you are planing to move your application on different computers and don't want to install any database management system there then SQLite is the best option.

All of your data will be stored in one file and you can freely move your application an other PC without installing any database management system there.

Here is good article explaining that in which scenarios SQLite is good choice.