So, what I want to do is to store data that can be printed on the serial monitor(to be exact, it's a brightness of a room in integer) to the database, and the arduino uno itself will always be plugged into the computer that also has the database. Is it possible to do so, or does it still require Ethernet shield (Or any other device)? I know this is impractical, but I just want to test it out.
HerO_0110:
So, what I want to do is to store data that can be printed on the serial monitor(to be exact, it's a brightness of a room in integer) to the database, and the arduino uno itself will always be plugged into the computer that also has the database. Is it possible to do so, or does it still require Ethernet shield (Or any other device)? I know this is impractical, but I just want to test it out.
It might not actually be impractical, but it is rather incoherent. If you send the data to a real terminal programme, like Realterm, you can record that data for later inclusion in a database. You can also send the data direct to Excel using the PLX macro.
An Ethernet shield is not a requirement, it is just one of several means of communication and, for you, probably the least important.
You could write a program on your PC (using Python, for example) that can receive the data from the Arduino and save it in the database. The Python library peewee makes the database programming fairly straightforward.
using Visual Studio (Express is free) you could implement a program in C++, C#, VB, etc to read the serial interface and store the information into an Access or MySql database
if you don't wish to use Visual Studio there are other languages/compilers with similar facilities
If you are familiar with C# - use COM-port as described above.
If you are familiar with php - use ethernet shield.
If you are familiar with arduino only - use SD card.