MySQL provides a rich list of APIs with which scripts and programs perform data management. Other than directly entering INSERT and UPDATE commands directly at the mySQL command line, there is not built-in data entry functionality.
Data entry (including, verification, validation, limit-checking) is performed by scripts (PERL, PHP) or programs, such as those written in C. <SUBJECTIVE_OPINION> The easiest method to create data entry is browser-enabled forms using a PHP script front-end. The API is quite extensive and easily handles tasks I've had to write hundreds of lines of code in years past. Since everyone has a browser on their desktop, this prevents you from developing thick-client interface. If some client-side calculations are required (thin-client technology), these can be easily handled in JAVA or JAVASCRIPT. Finally, having started from a browser-based application, migrating your application and database to the internet is far less costly and time-consuming </SUBJECTIVE_OPINION> The lack of data-entry and programming functionality is a fact-of-life of the SQL-family of relational databases. Like you, I, too, come from a dBase/FoxPro/Access development world where these capabilities were built-in to the database engine itself. The SQL-family simply provides an API access to your data and leaves insertion, update, retrieval, and display to your own devices. -----Original Message----- From: Robert A. Smith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2001 12:46 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Editing Forms I have been looking at MySQL with the assumption that I could move up to an enterprise level database from a desktop database without the prodigious cost normally incurred. I usually work for small business's and my choice of database has been Paradox. I have been using Delphi as a front end tool but am unsure of where Paradox is going and my customers are tired of the lost indexes and val files that come with Paradox even though I feel that it has served them very well. On to the question. I cannot get a sense of what a MySQL database would look like. In Paul Dubois's book and Sams "Teach Yourself" the references in the index have a paucity of references to data entry. The favoured version being to dump the data in from another file. I must write a data-entry front end for a large amount of data for a small business. Half of the code I usually write is meant to present the user with a fast, secure, set of customized data entry forms. I can find almost no code for this outside of the browser interface. Am I barking up the wrong tree with MySQL asking it to be something that its not or am I simply too myopic in my search. Can I put together a database that will function in a small office that may eventually, and I say this with some hesitation, move access of the data to the web. My problem is trying to envision the end product and am I am having great difficultly. Would Delphi and/or Kylix make this a viable operation. Thank You Robert Smith --------------------------------------------------------------------- Before posting, please check: http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual) http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive) To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Trouble unsubscribing? Try: http://lists.mysql.com/php/unsubscribe.php --------------------------------------------------------------------- Before posting, please check: http://www.mysql.com/manual.php (the manual) http://lists.mysql.com/ (the list archive) To request this thread, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Trouble unsubscribing? Try: http://lists.mysql.com/php/unsubscribe.php
