Viable(read cheap) alternative to access PLEASE!!
Hi At the moment we're using access(Ok, ok stop laughing!) to produce pupil reports. We're at the stage where (most) teachers can enter grades etc themselves. (Un)Fortunately, we couldn't afford to equip everyone with a copy of office (present or future) What are my alternatives? Is is it possible to use a web based front end? If so, can these be password protected? Are there any reporting tools which allow flexible layouts? I'll try almost anything..especially if it's free! Thanks in advance Mike Rees Ysgol Glanymor School Heol Elfed Burry Port Llanelli SA16 OAL --------------------------------------------- This message was sent using Endymion MailMan. http://www.endymion.com/products/mailman/
Hello,
Perhaps I can help you??
--- Mike Rees
At the moment we're using access(Ok, ok stop laughing!) to produce pupil reports. We're at the stage where (most) teachers can enter grades etc themselves.
Ha Ha :-))
(Un)Fortunately, we couldn't afford to equip everyone with a copy of office (present or future)
Thats not surprising really.....damn commercial software
What are my alternatives?
Well, under Linux, you have several Both mySQL and PostgresQL are free (GPL) databases. If you have had some experience in ASP programming (and SQL), then I would choose "mySQL". This would then enable you to create a web-based frontend to do all the "database" things.
Is is it possible to use a web based front end? If so, can these be password protected?
Yes (see my answer above)
Are there any reporting tools which allow flexible layouts?
Perl (Practical Extraction Report Language)
I'll try almost anything..especially if it's free!
If you need anyhelp, let me know :-) Regards, Thomas Adam ===== Thomas Adam "The Linux Weekend Mechanic" -- www.linuxgazette.com ____________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie
On Thu, 27 Sep 2001, Mike Rees wrote:
Hi At the moment we're using access(Ok, ok stop laughing!) to produce pupil reports. We're at the stage where (most) teachers can enter grades etc themselves. (Un)Fortunately, we couldn't afford to equip everyone with a copy of office (present or future) What are my alternatives? Is is it possible to use a web based front end? If so, can these be password protected? Are there any reporting tools which allow flexible layouts? I'll try almost anything..especially if it's free!
Since you say "using Access", can we assume that this is a reporting system you've built up in-house? If so, then you have a couple of possibilities: 1. Use StarOffice instead - StarBase is pretty identical to Access. I'm not sure whether or not it will open Access files (the Linux version won't but I am told that the Windows version does). Even if it doesn't, it would just be a case of spending a few days copying the table design etc. across and then exporting/importing the data. 2. Migrate the back-end engine to an SQL server such as PostgreSQL or MySQL. For this you would need to re-create the table design on the SQL server, export/import the data and then configure Access to use ODBC to access the SQL server. Once you've got to this point, you could also use StarOffice to access the data (since StarOffice also supports ODBC). You would also be able to create a web front-end using something like Apache/PHP (not hard at all to learn). (Yes, you can password protect web-based database front ends). For the ultimate in flexible layouts, you can't easily beat a web-based front end. This enables you to create arbitary HTML code based around queries to your database engine, so you can make your reports look however you want them to look and you can make the queries as flexible as you like. As a silly example, a class-list report could put a horizontal rule after every pupil whose name included the letter Q or could include a "Wanted" photograph for pupils whose attendance record indicated that they had skipped more than three lessons in the past week. As an example of how easy it is to write PHP, here's an example that I think I might have posted to the list before: $db_conn = pg_connect ("host=dbserver port=5432 dbname=mydb user=mydbuser"); $result = pg_exec ($db_conn, "SELECT * FROM mytable"); for ( $row = 0 ; $row < pg_numrows($result) ; $row++ ) { $data = pg_fetch_object ($subj_result, $row); echo "<li>" echo $data->myfield; echo "<\li>" } This will connect to a database "mydb" running on a PostgreSQL server on "dbserver", using the user name "mydbuser". It will then execute a query to select all rows from a table "mytable", then print out the contents of the field "myfield" for each row as part of an HTML list. There are plenty of good PHP resources around, including the PHP manual itself. I imagine you'd like to play around and learn how to do it yourself but if you don't want to (or are on a very tight deadline) then we'd be able to assist. HTH, Michael Brown http://www.fensystems.co.uk/
Mike - go Lotus, cost approx £10.00 per copy if you shop around and I'll give you a working reporting system operating in multiuser mode free of charge (if I wrote it then I can give away after all!). Our system uses lotus approach on staff desktops, each department has control over thier own database but, being relational and approach based I can pull all the info together on my system and mail merge the school reports in a single morning (well, 4 years in less than a single hour anyway). In addition, Lotus approach can access Postgres SQL server running on Linux via ODBC Let me know if you're interested Alan Mike Rees wrote:
Hi
At the moment we're using access(Ok, ok stop laughing!) to produce pupil reports. We're at the stage where (most) teachers can enter grades etc themselves.
(Un)Fortunately, we couldn't afford to equip everyone with a copy of office (present or future)
What are my alternatives?
Is is it possible to use a web based front end? If so, can these be password protected?
Are there any reporting tools which allow flexible layouts?
I'll try almost anything..especially if it's free!
Thanks in advance
Mike Rees Ysgol Glanymor School Heol Elfed Burry Port Llanelli SA16 OAL
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participants (4)
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Alan Harris -
Michael Brown -
Mike Rees -
Thomas Adam