On Saturday, June 25, 2011 06:18:14 am Adam Carr wrote: > Good Morning: > > I am very new to Python but I am enjoying the learning process. I have a > question about the application of Python to a problem at the industrial > business where I work. My two main questions are: > > 1. Can Python be used to achieve the goals of the possible project? > 2. Where are the best places to look (books, blogs, websites, etc.) for > programming examples or modules that would help me begin to assemble and > test some code? > > We currently have a Windows-PC based safety training program that was put > together in MS Access around 2001. Access has evolved through several > versions since then, as has the Windows OS, and the original author of the > database has left the company. Originally designed to be deployed on an > employee's desktop, the database is now restricted to two older PCs in the > facility that run a version of Access compatible with the original. In > short, the program is quickly becoming obsolete. > > The safety training program is a monthly exercise for all thirty nine > employees at our location. The training is mandated by OSHA, and the > subject matter is chosen based on the relevance to our processes. The > program consists of the following general steps. > > 1. The employee is prompted to enter his or her employee identity number. > > 2. A confirmation is generated showing the employee name and other minor > details, accessed from a simple list, to be sure the identity number and > the person are correctly matched. This requires employee acknowledgment. > > 3. The employee freely selects a training subject from a list. > > 4. Once a subject is selected, a PowerPoint (or could be the OpenOffice > Presentation) is launched. The training information is in the presentation. > The employee can navigate forward or backward through the presentation, or > they can exit. > > 5. Once the presentation is complete, or the employee has started and used > ESC to exit from the presentation, they are prompted to take a quiz or > exit the training program. > > 6. The quiz is a simple true-false ten question process based on the > material in the training presentation. > > 7. The employee clicks on their answers to questions, the quiz is completed > and scored. The employee must get at least eight of the ten questions > correct to pass the topic. > > > 8. Right now the Access version of the program prints the quiz, the > employee's answers and the correct answers to the quiz, and the hard copy > is signed and left with their supervisor. The printer is the default > location set for the machine on which the training and quiz are completed. > I think that the only reason the quizzes are printed is because no topic > and quiz verification process was written into the program. In other > words, an employee can take the time to review a topic, take and pass the > associated quiz but if the printed copy is lost there is no way to verify > that the employee completed anything. > > > I would like to see a program that can be deployed as originally intended, > on individual PCs, that can be more easily maintained and modified than the > behemoth Access program we now have. We are running a Windows network with > most production floor PCs using the latest version of XP and most > individual desktops and laptops using Windows 7. I have the blessing of > our network gods to pursue an open source solution because the options for > this kind of program, which is tailored to individual locations, are few. > The best approach the network folks suggested was a Lotus Notes database, > which would work great I'm sure but the development cost is very, very > high and each of the company's many manufacturing locations would require > a slightly different version of the database. > > Thanks in advance for taking the time to read my long note. I appreciate > any help or direction that can be offered. > > Adam You might want to check out Dabo (www.dabodev.com). It was designed to replace Visual Fox Pro, Access, and Visual Basic desktop programs. Dabo does a very good job with dealing with the GUI and data.
That of course assumes you want a desktop app. You could also use Django to create a web app. But if this is your first python project I think I'd go with a desktop app rather than deal with HTML, JavaSript, CSS, and python for the first project. Johnf _______________________________________________ Tutor maillist - Tutor@python.org To unsubscribe or change subscription options: http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/tutor
