mono/doc/mysql

* MySQL Data Provider

<ul>
	<li>MySQL Data Provider for 
	<a href="http://www.mysql.com/">MySQL</a> databases.  It is written in C# and uses
	the MySQL C Client Library

	<li>Exists in namespace Mono.Data.MySql and assembly Mono.Data.MySql
	
	<li>Works on Windows and Linux via the MySQL client shared library
	    (libmySQL.dll on Windows and libmysqlclient.so on Linux).
	    
    <li>Started by Daniel Morgan using C# Bindings to MySQL from Brad Meril.  
    
    <li><a href="http://www.mysql.com/articles/dotnet/">Exploring MySQL in the Microsoft .NET Environment</a> is an article
    by Mr. Venu who is a MySQL AB developer.
    
    <li>Other projects which have created a .NET Data provider for MySQL in C#
		<ul>
			<li><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/mysqldrivercs/">MySQLDriverCS</a> is a MySQL provider written in C#
			<li><a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/mysqlnet/">MySQLNet</a> is a MySQL Manager provider written in C#

		</ul>
</ul>
    
* Current Status

<ul>
	<li>can connect
	
	<li>can execute non-queries via ExecuteNonQuery()
	
	<li>can execute aggregates via ExecuteScalar() and retrieve the
	single row/single column result
	
	<li>can execute queries and retrieve results using a data reader.
	
	<li>a schema DataTable has been partially 
	implemented which is returned from GetSchemaTable() in MySqlDataReader.
	
	<li>a DataTable in a DataSet can be filled via a MySqlDataAdapter 
		
	<li>The shared client libraries 
	between windows version and linux are different: windows has libmySQL.dll 
	while linux has libmysqlclient.so.  This is handled by the 
	file etc/mono/config which is mapped by the mono runtime in knowing
	which native shared library to load.  In cvs, this file is mono/config.in and
	can be modified with a text editor.  
</ul>

* Action plan

The current plan to work on the MySQL data provider:
	
	<ul>
		<li>Parameters support via MySqlParameter and MySqlParameterCollection
		
		<li>Support LOBs (Large Object)
		
		<li>Change the MySQL provider to not be dependent on a client library and
		    be written in 100% C#
		    
		<li>Connection pooling
		
		<li>Get the provider to work like other data providers
	</ul>