The following items were added to the downloads section:

• Firebird ADO.NET Provider 1.7.1 RC1
• Firebird ADO.NET Provider 2.0 Alpha (for .NET Framework 2.0)
• Firebird Server & Embedded 1.5.3 RC1

See the downloads.

Another article by Ann Harris about the Firebird internals: Firebird for the Database Expert: Episode 5 - Locking and Record Versions.

See also:

• Firebird for Experts Technical Articles

I've been playing with the FbConnection.CreateDatabase method recently: It's now really easy to create a new database using the embedded Firebird.

When using the version 1.6 of the Firebird ADO.NET Provider it was necessary to use feed the parameters into a Hashtable. It was also necessary to specify username and password (although it makes no sense for the embedded Firebird - see Embedded Firebird Security).

Before Firebird ADO.NET Provider 1.7 you needed a code like this:

Hashtable parameters = new Hashtable();
parameters.Add("User", "SYSDBA");
parameters.Add("Password", "masterkey");
parameters.Add("Database", "database.fdb");
parameters.Add("ServerType", "1");
FbConnection.CreateDatabase(parameters);

The method FbConnection.CreateDatabase(Hashtable) is now obsolete. You can simply use the connection string. The username and password are no longer needed. The code for ADO.NET Provider 1.7 can be really simple:

FbConnection.CreateDatabase(@"Database=database.fdb;ServerType=1");

You can still use the FbConnectionStringBuilder to create the connection string.

Related:

Embedded Firebird in .NET FAQ

If you are using Firebird database please take a look at the following survey: Firebird Global Usage Survey.