Bernie Kemp wrote:
Hi,
How come you guys haven't included a database management system in OpenOffice. StarOffice has one that, frankly, I hate. I think that MS Access is much easier to use than any other DB system around and it is about time somebody created one that at least matches it for ease of use and kills it on price!
I've been an Access developer for almost 8 years now. I've used OpenOffice since it was StarOffice 5.2. I've been a Perl developer for the past 18 months.
I've also come up against the need to have a database front-end under Linux.
The package in StarOffice does bite, yes. But then so does Access ... just a little less.
I've played around with the new DB component in OOo developer builds for a couple of hours, and unfortunately I'm not that impressed with it either.
After looking at the above and a number of other options ( mainly Rekall ), I decided that the best idea was to roll my own DB front-end. I'm writing Perl-Gtk2 apps ( and building the interface in Glade ) now that blow our legacy MS Access apps out of the water. Advantages over MS Access / OpenOffice:
- very, very fast and lightweight, as opposed to very, very slow and heavy
- Perl is far more beautiful and VB and unimaginably better than StarBasic
- Gtk2 apps inherit your Gtk2 theme
- cross-platform ( an advantage over Access anyway )
- Gtk2 widget layout model is *FAR* better than Access's and OpenOffice's fixed-position layout
- no bugs
I've made an open-source Perl module to synchronise data in a DB server with fields on a Glade-generated window:
http://entropy.homelinux.org/Gtk2-Ex-DBI/
I would only use OpenOffice's DB module for the most basic of hack-up jobs. Anything that you expect to grow or be of any real use, I would go the Perl-Gtk2 path. Honestly - you won't be sorry.
-- Daniel Kasak IT Developer NUS Consulting Group Level 5, 77 Pacific Highway North Sydney, NSW, Australia 2060 T: (+61) 2 9922-7676 / F: (+61) 2 9922 7989 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] website: http://www.nusconsulting.com.au
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