On Nov 13, 2017, at 2:54 PM, Balaji Ramanathan <balaji.ramanat...@gmail.com> wrote: > > In the past, I have maintained my data in an Access database
That’s the sort of application that the open source world just is not very good at recreating. F/OSS people hear “database” and think SQLite or Postgres or MySQL, which is not at all the same thing as Access or FileMaker Pro. The F/OSS world is disproportionately populated by developers; they think, “why would I want a GUI builder and a simplified scripting engine for a database?” Yes, I’m painting with broad strokes here. I’ve written multiple database-based applications in the past using both the F/OSS DBMSes listed above and FileMaker Pro *and* ye olde Borland Paradox. I think there’s a place for both kinds of “database,” but the F/OSS world doesn’t seem to want to spend many resources on the latter sort. I’ve just done some Googling, and have come up with two poor alternatives: http://kexi-project.org/ https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/base/ The primary problem with Kexi is that it’s tied into KDE, and hence isn’t easily portable to Windows and macOS. You have to port over huge chunks of KDE to get it to work, so few people bother, hence the ports wither and die. So, if you can run on Linux or run a Linux VM on your host, it may do fine for you. Otherwise, you probably can’t use it. The primary problem with Base is that it’s Java-based, which means it only works with the embedded Java HSQLDB library or with DBMSes it can connect to externally via client-server APIs or shims like JBDC and ODBC. That makes it difficult to use with SQLite. Not impossible, but certainly not as easy as, say, MySQL. It’s probably your best bet if you want something like Access for free (both senses) and can give up on the SQLite requirement. > I am familiar with programming in C and Java, but none of my > programming has been for the windows platform (except for the programming > inside MS Access, which was done in VBA). I have never developed GUI front > ends with forms, buttons, etc. The others’ recommendations for Tcl/Tk isn’t too bad. Tk is uncommonly easy to write GUIs with. The only easier *programmatic* method for building a GUI is HTML and its imitators. (Adobe Flex, Microsoft XAML, etc.) The main problem with Tk GUIs is that they tend not to look “native,” even if you use the new “themed Tk” widgets available since Tk 8.5: http://www.tkdocs.com/resources/backgrounder.html Additionally, Tcl is a brain-bender of a language. It is not much like any other programming language. It’s vaguely like a Lisp-flavored C shell, but it takes an experienced eye to make even that tenuous connection. Expect a learning curve. I’m glad I learned Tcl, long ago, because it broke my mold of what a programming language had to be. It’s therefore worth doing even if you never touch Tcl again after learning it. _______________________________________________ sqlite-users mailing list sqlite-users@mailinglists.sqlite.org http://mailinglists.sqlite.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/sqlite-users
