To All, OK, the time has come to get into Dabo with avengeance - so here I am. I guess I'll really bug you all in the near future with the regular stupid newbie questions etc. regarding Dabo - so for that I apologise in advance. <BG>
I have a project here at work which would seem to be ripe for use with Dabo as a first introduction, even though I have tracked the Dabo project from day 1 - as Ed and Paul will know. What I have always needed is an opening to get into the product as well as some spare time, both of which are now available. The application to generate is a Timeclock system which is currently written in VFP using native VFP 9 tables (no autoinc fields or anything special that isn't VFP7 compatible in terms of table structures)) and a screenshot of the front end of the application is on my website: www.replacement-software.co.uk/Dabo/timeclock_main_screen.png 1. Obviously my first question to ask is where isit best to start, but before I start I'll explain the setup here. 2. Development system is Windows XP with Komodo IDE which seems to work really well with Python as I'm used to it for PHP development even though I do have a copy of the Wing IDE available - any comments as to the benefits/drawbacks of each when it comes to Python would be welcome. 3. I have loaded the full Dabo system with SVN as well as Tortoise and can run all the demos and application builders no problems. I have also looked at the Wiki and taken in as much as I can without getting into some code cutting. 4. Would it be better to start with the Application Wizard Generated code and work backwards to what I want or start with a blank page and simply cut code from scratch using the calls into Dabo? Bear in mind that I've been used to VFP as an integrated Visual IDE for - well let's say it is probably far too long! 5. Has anyone successfully managed to access VFP data (read and write) using anything other than the PHP ADODB software http://phplens.com/lens/adodb/adodb-py-docs.htm in addition to the mxODBC software http://www.egenix.com/products/python/mxODBC/ which is a obviously a commercial package. If so, then how, and what are the potential problems. Initially I want to use VFP tables even though I am going to migrate the application to a full client/server setup, which brings me to my next point regarding MsSQL. 6. In the Application wizard I have tried to use the MsSQL connection in order to connect to MsSQLExpress (latest version) but had no joy. What is the status of this feature and plans to implement - if not present already, or am I doing something completely wrong here? 7. I have read John F's recent post/intro to creating a Dabo Demo using Biz Obj's which was quite useful and hopefully by starting on this project I can supplement the "beginners guide" with my experiences for the benefit of all concerned. 8. Most of Python I am happy with so not many problems with the language here even though I still find it difficult to get into the Python mentality when "string slicing" where I always have to take a second look before I plumb in the parameters, but it will come to be second nature I'm sure. 9. Finally, my initial attempt is to generate the Dabo equivalent of the Timeclock application simply as a client, allowing the entry of an employee number from the keyboard (connected to a card reader) and populating the grid (see screen shot) with the date/time that the employee clocks in or out as well as colouring the grid entry red if clocked out and green if clocked in. In addition, the employee picture is shown on the screen (before anyone else says it, the ugly one in the screen shot is me <BG>). The second phase is then to produce the reports and the final phase to convert the VFP employee admin program into Dabo - but first things first and slowly but surely I guess. Sorry about the protracted post and that's it folks. Any comments would be extremely welcome - good or bad! Regards Dave Crozier _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/dabo-users Searchable Archives: http://leafe.com/archives/search/dabo-users This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/dabo-users/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
