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I'm thinking about using/implementing some kind of an embedded key-value (or document) store for my Windows desktop application. I want to be able to store various types of data (GPS tracks would be one example) and of course be able to query this data. The amount of data would be such that it couldn't all be loaded into memory at the same time.
I'm thinking about using sqlite as a storage engine for a key-value store, something like y-serial, but written in .NET. I've also read about FriendFeed's usage of MySQL to store schema-less data, which is a good pointer on how to use RDBMS for non-relational data. sqlite seems to be a good option because of its simplicity, portability and library size.
My question is whether there are any other options for an embedded non-relational store? It doesn't need to be distributable and it doesn't have to support transactions, but it does have to be accessible from .NET and it should have a small download size.
UPDATE: I've found an article titled SQLite as a Key-Value Database which compares sqlite with Berkeley DB, which is an embedded key-value store library.
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The term NoSQL refers to data stores that do not use SQL for queries. Instead, the data stores use other programming languages and constructs to query the data. In practice, "NoSQL" means "non-relational database," even though many of these databases do support SQL-compatible queries.
Non-relational databases (often called NoSQL databases) are different from traditional relational databases in that they store their data in a non-tabular form. Instead, non-relational databases might be based on data structures like documents.
NoSQL databases use a variety of data models for accessing and managing data. These types of databases are optimized specifically for applications that require large data volume, low latency, and flexible data models, which are achieved by relaxing some of the data consistency restrictions of other databases.
NoSQL databases can store relationship data — they just store it differently than relational databases do.
Windows has a built-in embedded non-relational store. It is called ESENT and is used by several Windows applications, including the Active Directory and Windows Desktop Search.
http://blogs.msdn.com/windowssdk/archive/2008/10/23/esent-extensible-storage-engine-api-in-the-windows-sdk.aspx
If you want .NET access you can use the ManagedEsent layer on CodePlex.
http://managedesent.codeplex.com/
That project has a PersistentDictionary class that implements a key-value store that implements the IDictionary interface, but is backed by a database.
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