I have a dream

English Programming/Scripting
1

I am a plumber. The unfortunate thing about this is I have to use expensive, screwed up windows programs to get the kind of accounting, scheduling, invoicing, inventorying, etc, etc; that a plumber needs to do business.

One program I use is an inexpensive program that uses, I think, FoxDB, FoxTrot, FoxPro, (or some other familiar name). Basically a Data Base, and a cute little GUI made from maybe “Basic Programming Language”.

Here’s my dream…I would love to learn Postsql or Mysql (I’ve already started this task) and Maybe some programming language that could make some fancy GUI and let the whole program go for free so other Plumbers and Contractors, can have that wonderful accounting program to keep track of their stuff. AND Maybe even join the ranks with us Linux people!!!

Basically business starts with a phone call to my office. My secretary needs to look at something on the face of the computer that would make sense to him or her (The GUI). A “Work Order”. Something that resembles a phone message book that my secretary can type out the customers name, address, etc and describe the problem, "Schedule the “Appointment, “Invoices” that can be made from this Work Order” and so on (The Data Base) .

Here’s my question…What programming language or Data Base has the features incorporated with it, that can do all this stuff without me having to learn volumes of stuff to achieve my dream?

The programs That I have seen such as TinyERP and others have some of the “stuff” a Plumber or contractor needs, but they fall short of the necessary stuff needed to actually work. Some might have what I am looking for such as “Compiere” but I think I may have trashed 2 computers trying to install that program. I’m not a beginner, and I’m not a software guru either as some of the software providers seem to think most of us are.

I’d love to here your input.
Thank You

2

Love your dream maybe this’ll help:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=(http://www.bambookit.com/Contents.html)
Hope they help!

3

UGH? Java? Python or something similar, with Qt bindings, would probably be simpler.

But why start from scratch? You’re describing a workflow process. Why not take a look at existing OSS apps, like sugarCRM, that can handle customer management and workorder entry, that type of thing. It’s extensible so you can add functionality if you’re willing to start working with PHP. There’s also a large user community for support, and a number of vendors that offer commercial extensions that might add what you require.

Note, I’m not singling out or endorsing sugarCRM, it’s simply the first app that came to mind (I had to profile it for a business consideration in the past), it may actually be wholly inappropriate for your requirements, but there are others. You may want to continue looking at OSS options that offer “most” of what you need, with the option of extending them. Much easier than re-inventing the wheel, although I admire your initiative… :wink:

Just my 2c…

Cheers,
KV

4

I would really suggest starting with something like OpenOffice.org Base, or maybe KOffice Kexi.

That way you can focus on the business side - getting your solution to work the way plumbers think.

Because its integrated with OpenOffice.org created letters (quotes/invoices/receipts/purchase orders) etc will be easier.

When you have a prototype working in OpenOffice, then it could be a good time to think about developing something which will support multiple users, and be a bit more robust (server based).

The “challenge” with a Relational database server product like Postgresql or MySQl is that you’ll have to learn about relational DB theory, the SQL, plus whatever language you want to code the GUI in.

You should also consider a web interface, but that just means learning HTML, CSS, plus the middleware language used to connect to the RDBMS server (PHP, Perl, Python etc).

An alternative would be Oracle 10XE, which lets you build web based applications with mostly point-n-click. Though an understanding of basic SQL would be useful.

HTH

5

Of course: Java. They are owning MySql.
Do not use programming languages with “addons”. I have personal experience in Java-MySql, because, I’m developing a GUI for MySql. :slight_smile:
Visit our site if you need examples - it is an open-source application, and of course e-mail to me if you want to join, or nee some help.
You can find a lot of books at FlazX - Welcome to your Computer & IT learning center (here search for Java Swing).
I recommend you Thinking in Java.
I hope you’ll stay at Java.

6

PHP and MySQL!

I say that because then you don’t need to mess around with a GUI and make it dependent on the computer or operating system, as everything is done from a web browser.

Plus you then have automatic remote access, and can work from anywhere.

I wrote an app many years ago for a small trucking company, it simply kept track of their expenses and was able to give a report when requested.

It would be extremely easy to make it into a fully fledged accounting system.

If you want the code to play with, let me know and I’ll send it to you. I’ll have to delete most of the data in the database, but you will get the idea.

It was quite easy to do, the hardest part being the embedded PHP code in the web pages. Plus I originally wrote it in microsoft’s ASP and god-awful Access database then had to convert it to PHP.

I could give you access to an online demo, but I’m moving back home (half way around the world!!) tomorrow and my server will be offline for some time unfortunately.

7

Hi Goldstar,

well, it’s not an easy decision. Some people in this forum mentioned using Python with QT.

I do agree that Ruby or Python constitute very, very nice languages, which are just perfect to hack up a GUI. There are two downsides:

  1. QT is GPL, which means that your program will have to be GPL as well
  2. Python and Ruby will have extra dependencies on native libraries (DB + GUI stuff), which might lead to portability issues (of course doable, but might cause some pain)

Others suggested Java. While the benefit from using Java is that the GUI library is part of the language (SWING), the DB still constitutes an external dependency. There exist light weight databases purely implemented in java, which could be used instead of MySQL. However, my experience is that MySQL works pretty well with Java.

While a GUI might be hacked up pretty quickly, learning Java (including all the concepts behind it) is quite a task.

There is, of course always the option of taking the easy way out and just creating a DB + Frontend with openoffice. I haven’t tried this yet, nor would I really recommend it, but I guess it’s the only option that doesn’t involve learning a programming language.

(Creating the DataBase tutorial video - OpenOffice Base - Learn: beginners, guide, database, windows, openoffice, linux, http, misc, office_skills, officeapplications, databases, tutorials)

So to sum up:

If you’re really want to spend some time learning a programming language, use Java and MySQL.

Otherwise try and see how far you get with openoffice.

Ruby/Python are definitely cool, but depends on whether you want to GPL ur stuff.

cheers,
Chris