https://github.com/kayschima/databasestarter

Database-Starter-Tool for Windows
https://github.com/kayschima/databasestarter

database-management databases mariadb mysql postgresql windows

Last synced: 3 months ago
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Database-Starter-Tool for Windows

Host: GitHub
URL: https://github.com/kayschima/databasestarter
Owner: kayschima
License: mit
Created: 2026-03-19T18:35:25.000Z (4 months ago)
Default Branch: main
Last Pushed: 2026-03-28T11:48:05.000Z (4 months ago)
Last Synced: 2026-04-03T00:41:49.299Z (3 months ago)
Topics: database-management, databases, mariadb, mysql, postgresql, windows
Language: C#
Homepage:
Size: 297 KB
Stars: 0
Watchers: 0
Forks: 0
Open Issues: 0
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- License: LICENSE

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README

# 🗄️ Database Starter

> Manage portable MySQL, MariaDB & PostgreSQL instances on Windows — without traditional installation.

![Version](https://img.shields.io/badge/Version-0.1.4-blue)
![.NET](https://img.shields.io/badge/.NET-10.0-purple)
![Platform](https://img.shields.io/badge/Platform-Windows-0078D6)
![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-green)

---

## 📋 Overview

**Database Starter** is a WPF desktop application that allows you to install, start, stop, and uninstall portable database servers directly on your local machine — without administrator privileges and without Windows services.

The application manages standalone, portable instances of the following database engines:

| Engine | Supported Versions | Default Port |
|--------------|-------------------------------------|--------------|
| 🐬 MySQL | 9.5.0, 8.4.7, 8.0.44 | 3306 |
| 🦭 MariaDB | 12.2.2, 11.8.6, 11.4.10, 10.11.16 | 3307 |
| 🐘 PostgreSQL | 18.3, 17.9, 16.13, 16.3, 15.17 | 5432 |

---

## ✨ Features

- **One-Click Installation** — Downloads the official portable distribution and extracts it automatically
- **Version Selection** — A specific version per engine can be selected before installation
- **Start / Stop** — Database processes are started and stopped directly as local processes
- **Uninstallation** — Cleanly removes all files of an instance from the system
- **Progress Indicator** — Download progress in percent with status display during installation
- **Live Status** — Colored status indicators (🔴 Not installed / 🟡 Installing / 🟢 Running / 🔵 Stopped)
- **Log Output** — Integrated, expandable log per database instance
- **Settings** — Configuration (paths, ports, versions) is automatically persisted in `settings.json`
- **Graceful Shutdown** — When the application exits, all running servers are shut down gracefully
- **Localization** — Available in German and English (auto-detected from system language)

---

## 🖼️ Screenshots

*The application uses a modern dark theme in Catppuccin style with cards for each database engine.*

---

## 🛠️ Prerequisites

- **Windows 10/11** (x64)
- [**.NET 10.0 Runtime**](https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/10.0) (or SDK for building from source)

> ℹ️ No administrator privileges are required. All database files are stored under `%LOCALAPPDATA%\DatabaseStarter`.

---

## 🚀 Installation & Startup

### Option 1: Download Release

1. Download the latest release from the [Releases page](../../releases)
2. Extract the archive to any directory
3. Run `DatabaseStarter.exe`

### Option 2: Build from Source

```bash
# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com//DatabaseStarter.git
cd DatabaseStarter

# Build
dotnet build -c Release

# Run
dotnet run --project DatabaseStarter
```

---

## 📖 Usage

1. **Select Version** — Choose the desired database version from the dropdown
2. **Install** — Click `📥 Install` to download and set up the portable distribution
3. **Start** — After installation, the server can be started with `▶ Start`
4. **Connect** — Connect with your preferred client to `localhost` and the displayed port
5. **Stop** — Stop the server with `⏹ Stop`
6. **Uninstall** — Remove the instance with `🗑 Uninstall` (only possible when the server is stopped)

---

## 📁 Project Structure

```
DatabaseStarter/
├── DatabaseStarter.sln # Solution file
└── DatabaseStarter/ # WPF main project
├── App.xaml(.cs) # Application entry point with controlled startup & config validation
├── MainWindow.xaml(.cs) # Main window (UI)
├── Converters/
│ └── Converters.cs # WPF Value Converters (Status → Color, etc.)
├── Data/
│ └── database-versions.json # Version catalog per engine incl. download URLs and extract folders
├── Models/
│ ├── AppSettings.cs # Persisted application settings
│ ├── DatabaseDefaults.cs # Loads and validates the external version catalog; provides defaults and helpers
│ ├── DatabaseEngine.cs # Enum: MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL
│ ├── DatabaseInstanceInfo.cs # Instance configuration (path, port, version, …)
│ ├── DatabaseStatus.cs # Enum: NotInstalled, Installing, Installed, Running
│ └── DatabaseVersionInfo.cs # Version information incl. download URL
├── Resources/
│ ├── Strings.resx # Localized strings (default / English)
│ ├── Strings.de.resx # Localized strings (German)
│ └── Strings.Designer.cs # Auto-generated resource accessor
├── Services/
│ ├── IDatabaseEngineService.cs # Interface for engine-specific operations
│ ├── MySqlEngineService.cs # MySQL implementation
│ ├── MariaDbEngineService.cs # MariaDB implementation
│ ├── PostgreSqlEngineService.cs # PostgreSQL implementation
│ ├── DownloadService.cs # HTTP download with progress reporting
│ ├── ProcessService.cs # Process management (start/stop)
│ └── SettingsService.cs # JSON-based settings management
└── ViewModels/
├── MainViewModel.cs # Main window ViewModel
├── DatabaseViewModel.cs # ViewModel per database card
├── ViewModelBase.cs # INotifyPropertyChanged base class
└── RelayCommand.cs # ICommand implementation
```

---

## ⚙️ Configuration

Database Starter uses two JSON-based configuration files located next to the application output:

- `settings.json` — persisted user settings such as base path, selected language, versions, ports and install locations
- `Data/database-versions.json` — central version catalog for MySQL, MariaDB and PostgreSQL, including download URLs and extract folders

### `settings.json`

User settings are automatically saved in `settings.json` in the application directory:

```json
{
"BasePath": "C:\\Users\\\\AppData\\Local\\DatabaseStarter",
"Language": "en",
"Instances": [
{
"Engine": 0,
"Version": "8.4.7",
"InstallPath": "…\\mysql",
"DataDir": "…\\mysql\\data",
"Port": 3306,
"IsInitialized": false
}
]
}
```

| Field | Description |
|----------------|--------------------------------------------------|
| `BasePath` | Base directory for all database installations |
| `Language` | UI language (`en` or `de`) |
| `Engine` | 0 = MySQL, 1 = MariaDB, 2 = PostgreSQL |
| `Version` | Selected version of the engine |
| `InstallPath` | Installation directory of the portable binaries |
| `DataDir` | Data directory of the database |
| `Port` | TCP port the server listens on |
| `IsInitialized`| Whether the data directory has already been initialized |

### `Data/database-versions.json`

The available database versions are configured in `Data/database-versions.json` and loaded at startup by `DatabaseDefaults`.

```json
{
"MySQL": [
{
"version": "9.5.0",
"displayName": "MySQL 9.5.0",
"downloadUrl": "https://cdn.mysql.com/archives/mysql-9.5/mysql-9.5.0-winx64.zip",
"extractFolder": "mysql"
}
],
"MariaDB": [
{
"version": "12.2.2",
"displayName": "MariaDB 12.2.2",
"downloadUrl": "https://archive.mariadb.org/mariadb-12.2.2/winx64-packages/mariadb-12.2.2-winx64.zip",
"extractFolder": "mariadb"
}
],
"PostgreSQL": [
{
"version": "18.3",
"displayName": "PostgreSQL 18.3",
"downloadUrl": "https://get.enterprisedb.com/postgresql/postgresql-18.3-1-windows-x64-binaries.zip",
"extractFolder": "pgsql"
}
]
}
```

Each engine entry contains an ordered list of versions. The first entry is treated as the default/recommended version.

| Field | Description |
|------------------|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| `version` | Technical version number used for matching and persistence |
| `displayName` | Human-readable label shown in the UI |
| `downloadUrl` | Download URL of the portable archive |
| `extractFolder` | Expected top-level folder name after extraction |

At application startup, `App.xaml.cs` triggers an early validation of `Data/database-versions.json`.
If the file is missing, malformed, or contains invalid entries (for example an invalid URL or empty engine list), the application shows a startup error dialog and exits cleanly.

---

## 🏗️ Technology Stack

- **UI Framework:** WPF (.NET 10.0)
- **Architecture:** MVVM (Model-View-ViewModel)
- **Language:** C# 13
- **Persistence:** System.Text.Json
- **Localization:** .resx resource files (German & English)
- **Design:** Catppuccin Mocha Dark Theme

---

## 🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here's how:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (`git checkout -b feature/my-feature`)
3. Commit your changes (`git commit -m 'Feature: Description'`)
4. Push the branch (`git push origin feature/my-feature`)
5. Create a Pull Request

---

## 📄 License

This project is licensed under the [MIT License](LICENSE).

---

## ⚠️ Notes

- The downloaded database binaries are subject to the respective licenses of the vendors (Oracle/MySQL, MariaDB Foundation, PostgreSQL Global Development Group).
- This tool is intended for **development and testing purposes** — not for production use.
- The database processes run as local user processes, not as Windows services.

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