Re: [Dorset] Database with GUI Front End for Non-Database Experts
On Monday, 12 November 2018 19:37:17 GMT Keith Edmunds wrote: > Start by writing your requirements. The hard part: do NOT include any > implementation details in the requirements. Focus on what, not how. Before I say anything else, I feel that I should point out that before I retired, a large part of my job was writing Requirement Specifications for very large Aerospace companies. I am well aware of the need for Requirements to state the what and not the how. > For example, "The database should be hosted on a website somewhere" is not > a requirement. It is a way of achieving an unstated requirement; there may > be other, even better, ways. Not really. All Requirements have to start from somewhere. For example, a stakeholder (for that read 'Customer') has some internal requirements and will already have made some design choices. So instead of starting at rock bottom and saying that this piece of software has to do x, y and z. he might say that this piece of software has to run on an off-the-shelf PC and be hosted by Linux. (Sadly it was often Windows and the product must use Sharepoint. (Urgh) ) That 'how' for the stakeholder now becomes 'what' for the supplier. In my case, the WMT is the stakeholder and members of the WMT team had already decided that the solution should be accessible from multiple devices. This drove the need for my reference to a website (which I have since clarified to mean not necessarily a web page). Yes. I could have written a full blown Requirement Specification for this, in which case the top-level requirement would have been accessible from various devices. However, left like that; the current solution would have fulfilled that requirement because it is possible to open a LibreOffice spreadsheet on Windows, Linux or MacOS (and Android I believe). However, that wouldn't have allowed the access capabilities that we wanted. So in this case, the requirement is 'hosted on a website somewhere' because we have access to a website that we can develop and we had already decided that was what we wanted. > Once you've written the requirements, you can look at how you could > implement them. From what you've said so far, I'd be looking at a Flask > app (or, if you'd prefer to spend nine months learning the platform, > Django). As mentioned earlier, my hosting provider includes MySQL as part of my package, and Stephen Wolff has suggested off list that the hosting provider might also provide access to PHPMyAdmin. It does; so I am looking into how suitable that is for our purpose. On that subject, can anyone comment on that? I can see that PHPMyAdmin allows the database to be developed, (and the records can be imported from LibreOffice Calc) but I'm not sure how the users would then access it. As I said at the beginning, I have very little knowledge of database development (yet). > But start with the requirements. Well I thought I had; albeit a bit informal. -- Terry Coles -- Next meeting at *new* venue: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2018-12-04 20:00 Check if you're replying to the list or the author Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Database with GUI Front End for Non-Database Experts
Start by writing your requirements. The hard part: do NOT include any implementation details in the requirements. Focus on what, not how. For example, "The database should be hosted on a website somewhere" is not a requirement. It is a way of achieving an unstated requirement; there may be other, even better, ways. Once you've written the requirements, you can look at how you could implement them. From what you've said so far, I'd be looking at a Flask app (or, if you'd prefer to spend nine months learning the platform, Django). But start with the requirements. -- Linux Tips: https://www.tiger-computing.co.uk/category/techtips/ -- Next meeting at *new* venue: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2018-12-04 20:00 Check if you're replying to the list or the author Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Database with GUI Front End for Non-Database Experts
On Monday, 12 November 2018 14:24:05 GMT Patrick Wigmore wrote: > Last year, I used [Kexi](http://kexi-project.org/) to record an > inventory of my personal hoard of electronic components. So far so good. > But Kexi does not fulfil your requirements, in that the database would > not be hosted on a website somewhere, and that it would not run on Mac > or Windows (support for those platforms being "in development"). The > database itself can either be a local Sqlite file, or a database > server (MySQL or PostgreSQL). It is, however, open source and it is a > GUI-based tool for the development and use of the database. A clarification. When I said website, I didn't mean the database had to run on a web page. We just want to access it from various devices. For example, my hosting provider includes MySQL as part of my package and I have just created one called 'WMT River System Inventory'The MySQL Control Panel currently says that I have '1 of 10 used', although it is currently 'Setting Up', whatever that means. Presumably, once this is done, I'll be able add records for each item in our Inventory and then all need is a GUI tool to access it from Linux or a Mac. > I suppose you are probably looking either for an off-the-shelf > inventory database solution, or something broadly equivalent to > Oracle's "APEX" software, except open source and perhaps a little > easier to use. I don't think we need the functionality of a full-blown inventory solution; presumably that would have to be paid for. Our idea is to have a database which allows us to hold records for each component and then link the records to the build data for each assembly. I think we should be able to cobble something like that together, as long as the interface is user friendly. -- Terry Coles -- Next meeting at *new* venue: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2018-12-04 20:00 Check if you're replying to the list or the author Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
Re: [Dorset] Database with GUI Front End for Non-Database Experts
Hi Terry, Last year, I used [Kexi](http://kexi-project.org/) to record an inventory of my personal hoard of electronic components. But Kexi does not fulfil your requirements, in that the database would not be hosted on a website somewhere, and that it would not run on Mac or Windows (support for those platforms being "in development"). The database itself can either be a local Sqlite file, or a database server (MySQL or PostgreSQL). It is, however, open source and it is a GUI-based tool for the development and use of the database. Kexi is limited in terms of the types of constraints you can apply to the tables, and I found I had to write some of the queries in SQL instead of using the graphical query designer. It's also somewhat limited in terms of what kinds of forms you can create, and scriptability. I found Kexi to be at least one step above a spreadsheet and entirely satisfactory for my use case, but for a multi-user environment I would want more enforcement of constraints built into the database application, and more flexible and scriptable form design to improve usability. I don't doubt that there might be a nice, open source, web GUI for designing and using database applications, but since I have not used such a thing I will refrain from recommending anything! I suppose you are probably looking either for an off-the-shelf inventory database solution, or something broadly equivalent to Oracle's "APEX" software, except open source and perhaps a little easier to use. Patrick. -- Next meeting at *new* venue: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 2018-12-04 20:00 Check if you're replying to the list or the author Meetings, mailing list, IRC, ... http://dorset.lug.org.uk/ New thread, don't hijack: mailto:dorset@mailman.lug.org.uk
