Collect data from external database without an ethernet shield

Projects General Guidance
1

I know that you can send data to an external database - I've done it myself. I also know that you can get data from the local database (i.e mySQL). But is it possible to collect data from an external database without a ethernet shield on my arduino?

Why or why doesn't it work? What's the tech that prevents me from doing it, if that's indeed the case?

Thanks,
L

2

You can write a Linux/Windows application that connects to the database and sends data to the Arduino via serial port(on command if required).

3

sterretje:
You can write a Linux/Windows application that connects to the database and sends data to the Arduino via serial port(on command if required).

Are there any freewares that do this? Any guides I can read?

What's the use of an ethernet shield if you can just connect to a database from the computer?

4

You have not told us what sort of database you want to access, where it is hosted or how it is accessed.

I would be very surprised if you can't write a Python program to get the data. You can certainly use Python to send data to an Arduino as illustrated in this Python - Arduino demo

Python also has a library called peewee which can simplify database access.

...R

5

LHS89:
What's the use of an ethernet shield if you can just connect to a database from the computer?

Not quite sure if I understand.