Andreas Saeger wrote:
Drew Jensen wrote:Andreas Saeger wrote:Writer Calc Base Impr Draw Math DEN 57% 26% 6% 6% 3% 3% FRA 37% 32% 21% 7% 3% 1% GER 49% 30% 12% 5% 2% 1% NOR 68% 17% 6% 6% 3% 0% ooof 50% 30% 14% 2% 3% 2%More than all the others, French fellows seem to be interested in tables.3 of the sites pre-date Base from 2-3 years - so if we toss those and add the User Comm Forum Writer Calc Base Impr Draw Math UCF 47% 26% 17% 8% 2% 1% FRA 37% 32% 21% 7% 3% 1% NOR 68% 17% 6% 6% 3% 0%The French community discusses more Calc and Base topics, less Writer topics. I believe the French community is technically more advanced. Some of them try harder to get more, whereas a group of less savvy users are interested mainly in Writer (everybody knows word processors), use spreadsheets for all kinds of list processing and disregard Base. Base leaves you alone with an empty container after creating a new database. The table wizzard creates unrelated tables. The Bibliography example is limited due to it's dBase nature. Table "biblio" has nothing to offer beyond a spreadsheet's capabilities. Back to Calc where you can type anything into the given grid, just like you would on a sheet of paper. Well, if you do so you almost certainly run into spreadsheet trouble. Extract from the recent top 40 in the Calc forum http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewforum.phtml?f=3 > http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=67638 SOLVED: Multiple Vlookup search ?http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=67663 Data Input Form http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=67607 Using a formula inside a link http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=67541 MATCH function on multiple querys ? http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=66406 how to create receipts / invoices from a spreadsheet? http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=66285 Dates displayed as numbers in a Drop ListThere have been times when 20 to 30% of recent Calc-topics deal with - Wrong results due to numeric strings hidden in between numbers. - Wrong range of cells gets sorted (including header, excluding columns) - All kinds of troubles with filters - eliminate duplicates - foreign keys - input forms - csv processing - "lookup-relations" in ../Sales/Europe/December\ 2007.xls - performance, limited count of rows/columns/sheets - macro to unprotect>check input>insert>copy relation>timestamp>protect This is where Base could gain thousands of users within a few months after 3.0 release, if there where some advanced examples of what you can do with Base together with some knowlege on relations and SQL (less efford than mastering any spreadsheet's formula language and macros). I gave up trying. I can do anything in SQL view, I understand the meaning of error messages, but I encountered too many limitations and an unsafe container format. If I had to implement a relational database today, I would start with anything but Base, keeping connectivity in mind. Base feels like a car, built in a shipyard. Takes some time to let the water run off before you can open the door (without keys) just to find out that the rusty steer wheel is on the other side. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
i don't know if this will help the devs much or not, but i thought i'd give it a shot... i hope it's not too long. i wrote it last night.
This is from someone who works in a county office and who basically stumbled upon MSAccess. We had been using dBase for our needs but no one could get it to do reports, so it just basically held the data. The data consists of just three simple tables. Since we deal with families and child care providers, we have a table for parents, one for children (since they may each have a different child care provider (ccp)) and one for the CCPs. None of us are programmers.
In our situation we have some 14 of us accessing the MSAccess database, which i made up little by little after discovering it and beginning to "play" with it. It crashs of course every once in a while bec. it's not really meant to be multiuser, but we just start it back up and keep on working. But the thing i/we need in a program is
1.
to be able to create the tables
2.
add fields when necessary after the table is created
3.
to link them, usually in a one-to-many or one-to-one relationship
4.
We need to be able to create queries and the queries need to be
editable, i.e. we need to be able to add another field instead of
recreating the query from scratch. As far as i can tell, this is
not yet possible.
5.
create one or more forms through which we can input the
information, delete it and/or alter it. Here, we pretty much use
one form which we have created to input most of the data. On this
form that other db program has allowed us to place buttons (or
create menu items) which basically run reports or produce a
letters or paper forms to be filled out by the family which
contain the _current_ family's info. This was a very basic click
(create button) and select (Which Query, Form or Report do you
wish to run?) procedure. We are unable to do this in Base yet.
There are several posts in the forum which ask that the database
be capable of being set up in such a way as to open directly to
this form. i don't really see why this is so important. The
personnel are still going to need some training on the database
because it's never going to “look and feel” exactly like the
previous one and all we need to show/tell them is “Please use this
button 'Main/Input Form' in order to begin to work with the database.”
6.
and finally, some way of getting the information out. Most of the
time, this part is perhaps the most important because this is
where we produce the forms that the parents sign or which we sign
and which need to be kept (it's still a paper-based system...) in
what is known as -- a File! Some of us have to produce reports for
the State but now the info can be sent by e-mail. So i'm very
happy to see that Base is finally coming along and now has a more
powerful Report Writer. However it still seems to have a long way
to go. We can't change the size of the second GUI column to make
it smaller. We can't change the rulers so that they read in
inches, for example. We don't know what they read in now. It would
be nice if the vertical ruler on the left hand side read all the
way from the top of the form to the bottom, instead of being
divided into sections. Printing still seems to be an art; the
printout still doesn't look like what is looks like in the layout
screen.
7.
just before i went to sleep, i remembered this too and began to
dispair that we'd ever find a db that could easily replace MSA. i
remembered that Base is not multiuser.
The above has to do with my ongoing thinking about why Base is not more
widely used by our OOo userbase. i suspect that Ooo users can be divided
into two large groups – home users and “office” users. Let's face it,
Home users probably don't have much use for a database program. i know i
never started using Access at home until i had started to create our
Access program at work. The other large group would begin to use Base
more if it were as easy to use as that other db program. Then, once one
person was easily able to create a database for the office, Ooo, and
Base in particular, would be adopted by not just one person at a time,
but by whole offices and we would see adoption not by individuals but by
10s, 20s or even more at a time which i think is something we are all
shooting for.
Anyway, i hope that this contributes a little to the discussion about Base and where, IMHO, we need to go in order for it to be adopted by more (many more) individuals and organizations. :)
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