My migration of my Access databases to mysql has started. I've got mysql, PHP and apache up and running and I've imported the data from my Access database. I can see it all in phpMyAdmin, most impressive!
Now I need to be able to design/build replacements for the Access data input forms and the Access reports.
Starting at the input end (seems reasonable!), has anyone got any recommendations for designing input forms for mysql databases? Searching Google isn't very helpful because as soon as you enter 'mysql forms PHP' (with or without the 'PHP' actually) you get zillions of hits on HTML forms for entering data via PHP into a mysql database.
The problem is that this gives a rather backwards approach which assumes a 'typical' HTML form and that's not what I want really. For data entry it doesn't really even have to be a web form.
What I'm after is essentially a view of my table with some calculations/filters between data entry and the database. I.e. when the 'form' is opened it loads up the whole database table and presents it on screen in tabular fashion. I can edit existing entries simply by moving to them and changing them, I can add entries at the end. Most fields simply get inserted unchanged in the database as I type them but some fields are automatically calculated and inserted when I enter/change other fields in the same row.
This is what I've done in Access and I want to do something similar for the mysql database if I can, preferably with some sort of tool to help me! It's the sort of thing Oracle Forms does too. Surely someone must be doing it for mysql.
The phpMyAdmin 'Browse' window looks somewhat like what I'm after but I need to be able to edit the data in place (I.e. move to the field and change it), add rows at the end and have 'auto calculated' values.
On Sun, Nov 07, 2004 at 04:29:31PM +0000, Chris Green wrote:
What I'm after is essentially a view of my table with some calculations/filters between data entry and the database. I.e. when the 'form' is opened it loads up the whole database table and presents it on screen in tabular fashion. I can edit existing entries simply by moving to them and changing them, I can add entries at the end. Most fields simply get inserted unchanged in the database as I type them but some fields are automatically calculated and inserted when I enter/change other fields in the same row.
Just to show what I *don't* want but which seems to be the typical approach take a look at:- http://www.dadabik.org/index.php?function=show_demo
It's so *clumsy*! To change an entry in your table you have to find the right row and then say 'edit this row please' and up pops a new form where you enter the data - and you can't see any of the other data which you may need to work out what to enter.
I want a form like the 'show all records' one but where I can do everything, edit existing records, add new records and (occasionally) delete records. It seems such an obvious way to do things, make the computer do the work, not the user.
On Sun, Nov 07, 2004 at 06:34:00PM +0000, Chris Green wrote:
On Sun, Nov 07, 2004 at 04:29:31PM +0000, Chris Green wrote:
What I'm after is essentially a view of my table with some calculations/filters between data entry and the database. I.e. when the 'form' is opened it loads up the whole database table and presents it on screen in tabular fashion. I can edit existing entries simply by moving to them and changing them, I can add entries at the end. Most fields simply get inserted unchanged in the database as I type them but some fields are automatically calculated and inserted when I enter/change other fields in the same row.
Just to show what I *don't* want but which seems to be the typical approach take a look at:- http://www.dadabik.org/index.php?function=show_demo
It's so *clumsy*! To change an entry in your table you have to find the right row and then say 'edit this row please' and up pops a new form where you enter the data - and you can't see any of the other data which you may need to work out what to enter.
I want a form like the 'show all records' one but where I can do everything, edit existing records, add new records and (occasionally) delete records. It seems such an obvious way to do things, make the computer do the work, not the user.
I think I've found what I want (someone recommended it earlier actually), knoda for kde is it.
All I have to do know is work out what I need to install to get it to work (I don't run kde).
Chris Green wrote:
[SNIP]
I think I've found what I want (someone recommended it earlier actually), knoda for kde is it.
All I have to do know is work out what I need to install to get it to work (I don't run kde).
This should give you a clue! On a gentoo machine with USE flags specifying no X:
vs4 etc # emerge -p knoda
These are the packages that I would merge, in order:
Calculating dependencies ...done! [ebuild N ] net-dns/libidn-0.3.7 [ebuild N ] dev-util/pkgconfig-0.15.0 [ebuild N ] net-nds/portmap-5b-r8 [ebuild N ] app-admin/fam-2.7.0-r2 [ebuild N ] media-gfx/graphviz-1.10 [ebuild N ] app-doc/doxygen-1.3.8 [ebuild N ] kde-base/kde-env-3-r3 [ebuild N ] media-libs/libart_lgpl-2.3.16 [ebuild N ] app-text/sgml-common-0.6.3-r4 [ebuild N ] media-libs/fontconfig-2.2.3 [ebuild N ] x11-misc/ttmkfdir-3.0.9-r2 [ebuild N ] x11-base/opengl-update-1.8.1-r1 [ebuild N ] x11-base/xorg-x11-6.8.0-r1 [ebuild N ] app-arch/rpm2targz-9.0-r2 [ebuild N ] sys-apps/utempter-0.5.5.5 [ebuild N ] x11-terms/xterm-196 [ebuild N ] media-libs/libmng-1.0.4 [ebuild N ] media-libs/giflib-4.1.0-r3 [ebuild N ] media-libs/libungif-4.1.0.1b [ebuild N ] x11-libs/qt-3.3.3 [ebuild N ] kde-base/kdelibs-3.3.1 [ebuild N ] dev-db/hk_classes-0.7 [ebuild N ] dev-db/knoda-0.7
Cheeers, Laurie.
On Mon, Nov 08, 2004 at 10:28:17AM +0000, Laurie Brown wrote:
Chris Green wrote:
[SNIP]
I think I've found what I want (someone recommended it earlier actually), knoda for kde is it.
All I have to do know is work out what I need to install to get it to work (I don't run kde).
This should give you a clue! On a gentoo machine with USE flags specifying no X:
vs4 etc # emerge -p knoda
These are the packages that I would merge, in order:
Calculating dependencies ...done! [ebuild N ] net-dns/libidn-0.3.7 [ebuild N ] dev-util/pkgconfig-0.15.0 [ebuild N ] net-nds/portmap-5b-r8 [ebuild N ] app-admin/fam-2.7.0-r2 [ebuild N ] media-gfx/graphviz-1.10 [ebuild N ] app-doc/doxygen-1.3.8 [ebuild N ] kde-base/kde-env-3-r3 [ebuild N ] media-libs/libart_lgpl-2.3.16 [ebuild N ] app-text/sgml-common-0.6.3-r4 [ebuild N ] media-libs/fontconfig-2.2.3 [ebuild N ] x11-misc/ttmkfdir-3.0.9-r2 [ebuild N ] x11-base/opengl-update-1.8.1-r1 [ebuild N ] x11-base/xorg-x11-6.8.0-r1 [ebuild N ] app-arch/rpm2targz-9.0-r2 [ebuild N ] sys-apps/utempter-0.5.5.5 [ebuild N ] x11-terms/xterm-196 [ebuild N ] media-libs/libmng-1.0.4 [ebuild N ] media-libs/giflib-4.1.0-r3 [ebuild N ] media-libs/libungif-4.1.0.1b [ebuild N ] x11-libs/qt-3.3.3 [ebuild N ] kde-base/kdelibs-3.3.1 [ebuild N ] dev-db/hk_classes-0.7 [ebuild N ] dev-db/knoda-0.7
Thanks Laurie! I was just thinking I should find out what emerge would do for me.
On Mon, Nov 08, 2004 at 11:13:23AM +0000, Chris Green wrote: [snip list generated using emerge]
Thanks Laurie! I was just thinking I should find out what emerge would do for me.
... and would you believe emerge has been ported to slackware as emerde.
(I must get out of this habit of replying to my own posts!)
Chris Green wrote:
My migration of my Access databases to mysql has started. I've got mysql, PHP and apache up and running and I've imported the data from my Access database. I can see it all in phpMyAdmin, most impressive!
Now I need to be able to design/build replacements for the Access data input forms and the Access reports.
Freshmeat and sourceforge are your friends here:
http://freshmeat.net/search/?q=mysql+forms%C2%A7ion=projects&Go.x=0&...
These look promising:
http://freshmeat.net/projects/phormation/ http://freshmeat.net/projects/phpformgenerator/ http://freshmeat.net/projects/dadabik/ http://freshmeat.net/projects/mysqlfm/ http://freshmeat.net/projects/formapp/
[SNIP]
Cheers, Laurie.
On Mon, Nov 08, 2004 at 10:25:25AM +0000, Laurie Brown wrote:
Chris Green wrote:
My migration of my Access databases to mysql has started. I've got mysql, PHP and apache up and running and I've imported the data from my Access database. I can see it all in phpMyAdmin, most impressive!
Now I need to be able to design/build replacements for the Access data input forms and the Access reports.
Freshmeat and sourceforge are your friends here:
http://freshmeat.net/search/?q=mysql+forms%C2%A7ion=projects&Go.x=0&...
These look promising:
http://freshmeat.net/projects/phormation/ http://freshmeat.net/projects/phpformgenerator/ http://freshmeat.net/projects/dadabik/ http://freshmeat.net/projects/mysqlfm/ http://freshmeat.net/projects/formapp/
Yes, I've been through just about all of those. See my specific comments on dadabik which is one of the better ones.
They are all far too 'form on a web page' oriented. They all seem to assume a database in which multiple users 'out there' will be modifying one line (probably their 'own' line) in the database. Thus they all tend to provide a means for finding a record and then a form for entering/modifying all the fields in that one record.
This sort of approach is fine for that sort of application but it's awful for entering/modifying multiple transactions in an accounts journal. The easiest way to find a transaction to modify is very often a simple scrolling list, I only use a search if I really get stuck. Then I want to modify the data 'in place', apart from anything else it's often very useful to be able to see adjacent entries when working out what one has to enter (e.g. what was the cheque number on the last payment, etc.).
What I really want is a 'table view' with the additional facility of a few automatic calculations on some fields.
Further searching on Freshmeat and sourceforge found what looks like what I want. Abu is unfortunately only for postGres but knoda looks like it will do what I want for mysql. The only problem is that it is a KDE application and thus I will need a load of KDE libraries I expect.
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Chris Green -
Laurie Brown