Stephen Andert wrote:
I was in the same position a little over a year ago ... exactly the same position actually - our MS Access sales system ( basically contact management with a couple of reports ) needed to run on Linux computers.Hi there,
I searched the archives, but didn't find anything helpful.
I am trying to build a fairly simple application for contact management. I already have what I want built in MS Access, but I need this application to run on Linux.
I did some searching and Rekall looked like a good tool. Had a hard time getting configure to work and now make is not working right.
Does anyone have any recommendations for a simple tool for developing applications in a Linux world? The machine in question is currently RedHat 9 and I'm not really interested in changing that right now.
I don't care if the app runs as a web application or stand-alone application, the keys are:
- work with MySQL (support for PostgreSQL a plus) - easy to install (relative term)
Advanced features not a big deal right now. With MS Access, it takes me 10 minutes to get a basic data-entry form up and running. I just want something similar for Linux.
Rekall looks like a tool that would meet my needs, but I'm getting frustrated with the install process. Has anyone gone through that and found a better way? Or does anyone have an alternate recommendation?
I spent many an hour wrestling with Rekall, and eventually gave it up. It's too much like Access and not enough like Linux. I mucked around with PHP for a while, and did a remote access thing for remote salespeople, but for the majority of people here, and for management facilities, I rewrote the application in Perl Gtk2.
Arguments for this system:
- Perl is very easy to learn, runs on Windows, Linux and OS-X ( your main targets, I assume )
- There are a *lot* of Perl modules and cool things around. It's very easy to extend your functionality.
- Gtk2 runs on Windows, Linux and OS-X
- Gtk2 is themable ... cool-looking apps
- Gtk2 is just a nice toolkit - the layout of widgets is *far* better than Access' fixed-positions
The whole system runs blindingly fast, and is rock solid.
I've written a Perl module: http://entropy.homelinux.org/Gtk2-Ex-DBI/ to make our jobs a lot easier. It sits between DBI ( database drivers / interfact ) and Gtk2::GladeXML, and handles database interaction ... querying, updating fields on your forms, detecting changes to a record, applying changes back to the DB server, etc.
What you have to do is:
- Create your interface in Glade
- Write your application logic in Perl
- Use one or more Gtk2::Ex::DBI objects to connect tables in your database to your glade-generated forms.
- Put a couple of buttons on the form, and connect them to various methods of the Gtk2::Ex::DBI objects ( eg previous, next, apply, etc )
Overall it's a *very* nice system to be programming for - much more fun than Access.
If you need reports, I'm currently working on a PDF report writer ( also written in Perl ). There are some other packages I've been using with limited success - I can point you to them if you like.
Have a look at Gtk2::Ex::DBI and tell me what you think. You're exactly the type of person I'm targetting ( Access developers wanting to migrate to Linux ), so I'd be very interested to hear what you think, suggestions, feature requests, etc.
Dan
-- 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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