On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 08:39:18AM -0600, Nate Lowrie wrote: > On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 7:35 AM, Chris G <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > I am hoping to convert an MS Access application to Dabo to remove just > > about my last need for running MS Windows. The Dabo version will run > > on my home desktop system which is currently running Fedora 8. > > Congratulations. Don't you feel so much more liberated now? > That's the idea! :-)
> > > > I have Dabo installed and running already but haven't really had any > > time to play with it much yet. > > > > The application is a simple small business accounts program and an > > invoicing program. The underlying databases for both are pretty > > trivial, the accounts program uses three tables and the invoicing > > program uses three tables as well. I'll probably stay with the same > > basic design as it seems to work pretty well. > > > > The thing that (until now) I had never managed to find a Linux > > replacement for was the forms and report design tools in Access, it > > looks like Dabo has these. On the other hand the thing that caused me > > most pain in Access was the Visual Basic coding which always seems > > horribly unstructured and inconsistent in its syntax. I'm looking > > forward to coding the bits that need some code in Python - wonderful! :-) > > Interesting that you would say that about the form and report design > tools. For Java Eclipse and Netbeans have pretty good form design > tools. For Python, Glade has been around for a while as well. > However, I still prefer Dabo because the Application code is smaller > and much easier to read. If you are moving from VB to Python you will > be very pleased. However, bear in mind that much of the coding > methodology in Python is different that VB, due in large part to OOP > being added as a taped on afterthought to VB. It would be worth it to > spend some time learning the Python language itself before delving > into Dabo. > I'm already using Python quite a bit as my language of choice for scripts etc. where shell scripting isn't enough. > On another note, if you take an Agile development approach, I find > that Dabo has a little too much coupling between layers for my liking. > It is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does make testing harder. > The nice thing is you can decouple the layers and create a traditional > Object model on the backend with a O/R persistence layer not coupled > to the UI. I can give you some hints if you want to go this route. > > > > > So, to the questions, which are probably a bit vague at the moment as > > I've not really started trying to do the work. (I'm off on holiday > > tomorrow too so I'm not quit sure why I'm asking now) - anyway:- > > A question asked is better than a question not asked. The nice thing > about vague questions is they can help in the formation of more > specific questions later on. > Yes, I'm at the "working out the shape" stage at the moment and the more input the better really. > > > > Is there any reason to choose one database engine rather than > > another? It's only a single user application, no complex locking > > requirements. I've got both mySql and postgresql databases already > > on my system. > > The choice is mostly personal preference. John likes to use Postgre > and you will probably see an email from him with benefits and > tradeoffs. I prefer MySQL, not for the features but because my agile > DB design tools are built for MySQL and recoding to another database > would be a PITA. MySQL does have it's drawbacks in terms of the way > it does locking, but that shouldn't be a concern for you. > OK, so it's my choice basically. > > > > Most of the 'programming' bits of my accounting system are purely > > 'control' actions that automatically fill other controls (or > > re-calculate their values) when values are entered. Is this sort > > of thing reasonably easy/practical to do in Dabo? > > > > This is very easy to do. You can do it several ways including binding > an event and defining a handler method, setting the DataSource and > DataField properties, and setting a dynamic property to a > recalculation method. I would go into detail but I think you can pull > much of the information from the Wiki. You can always email specific > problems to the list as well. > OK, that sounds good, I hadn't really dug far enough to see how it would be done in Dabo. It sounds like I have a fair choice. > > The reports are pretty simple, driven from queries on the tables, > > watching the Dabo Report Designer Overview screencast suggests > > that this should be pretty straightforward in Dabo - am I likely > > to hit any 'gotchas'? > > I haven't hit a snag yet on the reports. Just bear in mind that the > screencast is somewhat old and changes have been made since then. > Still, it is a good start. > Excellent, thanks for the feedback. Expect to hear nothing for a few weeks until I'm back off holiday. Then I'll start screaming "how do I do this" and "how do I do that"! -- Chris Green _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/dabo-users Searchable Archives: http://leafe.com/archives/search/dabo-users This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
