| From: | "paul butler" <paul(at)entropia(dot)co(dot)uk> |
|---|---|
| To: | "Steve McAllister" <stevemca(at)optushome(dot)com(dot)au> |
| Cc: | pgsql-novice(at)postgresql(dot)org |
| Subject: | Re: Developing a forms based web application |
| Date: | 2003-01-29 13:00:11 |
| Message-ID: | 0481a5503131d13PCOW034M@blueyonder.co.uk |
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| Lists: | pgsql-novice |
Send reply to: <stevemca(at)optushome(dot)com(dot)au>
From: "Steve McAllister" <stevemca(at)optushome(dot)com(dot)au>
To: <pgsql-novice(at)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: Re: [NOVICE] Developing a forms based web application
Date sent: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 22:44:34 +1100
This is the sort of thing I try to charge for :)
All I can offer is a few pointers
First thought is
If you're using an access front end why not just connect that to the
remote database? If your isp will allow it, this seems the most
direct route to me. Just distribute an mde. file of the front end.
Other thoughts
Html is not best suited for access style forms, if you've got a fast
connection and plenty of php pages you could simulate something
interactive, but when things start getting complex I can't say I'd
reccommend php. Its strength is in its libraries and convenience for
simple web apps.
you can muck about with javascript to work interactively on the
client (but only with a retreived dataset, not with the online data
itself) but this is not a particularrly robust (or easy) solution
especially if you can't control which client is going to be used.
Java applets embedded in an html (though terribly out of fashion)
can give you an interactive, stateful connection but learning java is
going to take a fair amount of time and effort and again the client
can cause problems (different vm, jits etc mean its write once, test
everywhere.)
As you are going from Access forms, I think .net web forms might
be the answer to your problem, though what .net is and how
useable it is at this stage is not something I'd like to comment on,
the whole .net 'marketecture' leaves my head spinning though one
of its goals is distributed computing and language independence
(there is .cobol for .net I beleive).
If I was to think about the the quickest way of doing this I would go
for a python/wxpython custom client to connect to the database
securely. If you've used a computer before (as you obviously have)
python will be no problem and clean and efficient code is its
strength.wxpython gives a pretty slick interface to it.
The majority of the list will know far more about this than I do and I
look forward to other responses.
HTH
Paul Butler
> Thanks for the response Paul.
>
> I should at the outset state I am proficient in neither PHP, perl or
> indeed HTML. I understand this is not a good base to start from when
> developing web applications, but, I am keen to learn.
>
> I have tried a few test scripts with both perl and PHP including using
> the pg library to access records. However it is not immediately obvious
> to me how I could produce clean and efficient code using either of these
> languages. I have seen how this type of code can be used to generate
> dynamic pages, but, to move forward from a dynamically generated page to
> a fully interactive screen, at this stage appears to be tedious and will
> produce a tangled mess of pages.
>
> I have done a fair amount of reading on HTML over the last few days and
> I must say it appears HTML is all about jumping into vi and writing
> <head> <p> <br> </br> etc etc etc. It takes me back to the days when I
> used to write native LATEX about twenty years ago. Surely the world has
> moved on from then. I am sure I must be missing something somewhere.
>
> On the upside I have many years of programming in FORTRAN77, Algol,
> Pascal and of course Unix shell scripts. Oops I probably shouldn't have
> mentioned that I suppose, now you know I am a survivor from the Ark.
>
> However, I do have some 12 years or so grounding in Oracle, so the
> Postgres stuff has been a breeze (well maybe not a breeze :-). If PHP
> and perl are indeed the way to go I will take up the details with some
> of the PHP and perl support groups and stop boring people here. Before I
> do so though, would you satisfy my main concern?
>
> My application is a typical Access forms type application. i.e throw up
> a screen of controls with some action buttons, list boxes etc. Let the
> user select from a list or press a button then retrieve some data,
> calculate some controls and allow them to edit some fields, press some
> more buttons etc. etc.
>
> Can I emulate as much as possible this type of functionality using PHP
> or perl and the pg library or am I into a new paradigm here? Will HTML
> et al force me into a different type of program flow/architecture?
>
> I would appreciate any advice.
>
> Steve McAllister
> Outsourcing Solutions Consultant
>
> Phone: 61 3 9631 1714
> Mobile 61 414 311 677
> E-mail: steve_mcallister(at)kaz(dot)com(dot)au
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: pgsql-novice-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org
> [mailto:pgsql-novice-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org] On Behalf Of paul butler
> Sent: Wednesday, 29 January 2003 9:04 PM
> To: Steve McAllister
> Cc: pgsql-novice(at)postgresql(dot)org
> Subject: Re: [NOVICE] Developing a forms based web application
>
> Send reply to: <stevemca(at)optushome(dot)com(dot)au>
> From: "Steve McAllister" <stevemca(at)optushome(dot)com(dot)au>
> To: <pgsql-novice(at)postgresql(dot)org>
> Subject: [NOVICE] Developing a forms based web
> application
> Date sent: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 21:14:27 +1100
>
>
> Aolserver is a webserver, so not a direct solution to your needs
> OpenAcs is an Open source Content Management/ web publishing
> set up that uses postgres, not sure how this would help you, and if
> it did it would probably be a sledgehammer approach.
>
> For a quick way to go online I would use php, its pg library is fast
> and effective for this sort of work, I'm sure a Perl script would work
> as well.
> You'll have to take into consideration how important state and
> concurrency is in the php side of things (ie whether you need to
> use sessions etc, user authentication, artifacts of the web
> environment) which is distinct from the persistent side of things
> that postgres handles so well
>
> Rewriting applications is usually tedious and rarely direct, but there
> you go
>
> HTH
>
> Paul Butler
>
> HTH
>
> Hi,
>
>
>
> I am looking for some advice on how to best create a web enabled forms
> based application. If anybody has any ideas it would be greatly
> appreciated.
>
>
>
> I have an MS Access forms application that now sports a Postgres
> database at the back end running under RedHat 8.0. I would like to
> redevelop the Access form to web enable it. I have played around with
> Perl and PHP and although I'm sure I could rewrite the application in
> either of these languages doing so looks a little tedious.
>
>
>
> Maybe I should be looking at OpenAcs, AOLserver and Postgres. But, then
> maybe I'm on the wrong track altogether. Is there some sort of forms
> based web application? I have seen one called DBForms, however, it
> appears to be based on server side Java. I would prefer to stay away
> from Java if I can.
>
>
>
> Does anybody have any advice for me, please?
>
>
>
>
>
> Steve McAllister
>
> Outsourcing Solutions Consultant
>
>
>
> Phone: 61 3 9631 1714
>
> Mobile 61 414 311 677
>
> E-mail: steve_mcallister(at)kaz(dot)com(dot)au
>
>
>
>
>
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