Following the well-received article on Mono, MonoDevelop and Glade, I decided to have a closer look at this mysterious beast and see if I couldn't get it to do something a little more useful. So I hooked it up to everyone's other favourite database, MySql, and knocked out a little database browser. Here's how I did it.

Now I don't claim to be a Mono expert, so if you are already a Mono guru, don't bother reading any further. In fact, it's probably better if you don't see my code. If, however, you're trying to wrap your head around Mono, you've come to the right place. If you didn't read Tectonic's previous Mono review, go back and read it now since I won't be covering Glade again.

To get the MySql connector, you can grab the latest connector from MySql. Download the Windows .zip file, open it up, and extract the file “bin/MySql.Data.dll” to your Mono directory. (Mine is /usr/lib/mono/1.0/ on Ubuntu). Then cd to the directory, and as root execute gacutil -i MySql.Data.dll to register it.

To kick off, let's make a user interface. Note that you don't need to lay it out in the way I did it – in fact it's probably advisable that you don't. It's a well-known fact that developers shouldn't be let anywhere near user interfaces, as my creation proves. Still, it serves its purpose.