quick question for our computer people

[Iane_Blaidd]

anyone out there use SQL Database alot?

Seems clients want to go this route now that the software i was supporing is dead and the new one is all SQL based...

Anyhow my question is what front end do you prefer using i waa thinking about learing .NET

[Alsmack]

Need to know more about the situation.

Is it Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite, etc.?

.NET would use ODBC connectors to get to all of those, I believe.

Is this a web based program? Is it a desktop application that needs to hit a shared DB somewhere? Is it a local DB on the workstation?

Each of these things matter for making an intelligent decision.

SQL also may not be the correct datastore for the type of information you're storing/accessing. If SQL is a straight requirement, you can connect to it with just about anything.

[Iane_Blaidd]

I was thinking MySQL and MS SQL, But since i am almost done with my PHP/MySQL course, i may put off MS SQL for a while.

i do plan to write some web based stuff with PHP and MySQL

i like the ODBC route its how i do my work now with Prevesive and MS Access

with the death date of the software i work on now coming first quarter in 2014 its time to move on to new and better stuff that software was out dated before i started working on it 6 years ago.

I am looking for something companies want/need

[Alsmack]

The thing I was getting at is you said "clients want to go this route." This tells me one of two things.

1. The client has decided SQL is the thing to do, with no technical basis behind it.

or

2. The client has external factors that make SQL a logical choice, such as needed third party integration or something.

If it's #1, it makes a whole lot more sense to evaluate the software's needs and determine the best data store. If you previously used access and are rewriting this stuff, then a relational database such as SQL is a logical choice. If it's #2, then, well you're mostly stuck. There could be NoSQL (mongo, couchbase, etc.) solutions that work better if you don't need a relational database.

That said, the convenient thing about going open source is of course cost. MySQL is pretty easy to work with. However, I rarely see MySQL used in a fashion where a desktop application directly hits it. There's generally an API of some sort that sits between the desktop app and the DB. This offloads security and other processes to the API and leaves the DB out of the client application, keeping things a bit more secure if done properly.

If it's a purely local, non-shared database, SQLite is the way to go.

[Iane_Blaidd]

Sorry Alsmack I been a bit out of it the last few days not feeling well and RL crap. I just reread my post and noticed I really didn’t answer you first set of questions so thank you again for helping me with this.

Almost all clients that are on Sage PFW (which is what I write 3rd party applications for) and its Pervasive based. The last reports for Sage is that 84% of PFW customers are moving to Sage 300 (prob because they are more or less giving it away to their current PFW customers). Sage 300 is MS SQL server based.

Now with that said I am getting out of the Sage support business it just far too boring and I cannot seem to find a VAR I can stand to work for they don’t know anything about this part of the business and tell clients I can do things that cannot be done and just ends up a huge mess....

I do have clients that will want me to upgraded their 3rd party stuff to the new Sage 300 which since some have to be built from the ground up I was thinking of getting out of MS Access and moving to something new and storing all the data in SQL tables vs. in a database 40 people access 100 times each per day.

I get what your saying and where you are coming from and I guess if I have not answered your question yet it’s because I don’t know the answer the whole thing is still up in the air and I just need to pick something and move forward on it, then move on to the next thing. I welcome any suggestions someone told me I should look into learning Ruby or Python after I learn PHP/MySQL.,,,

[Alsmack]

I'm language / tech agnostic. I pick what's best for the needs, not what's coolest/flavor of the week/etc.

That's why I'm asking so much about the requirements of the application.

I'm not familiar enough with your situation to give you much more advice than the stuff I mentioned to think about.

If your application is reporting against an MSSQL database and used on Windows clients, then it makes sense to go with a .NET language (C# is super marketable these days, from my understanding in a Windows world) and just access the data how you need. Presumably the SQL database will be on it's own server, accessible by the clients that need it, all that stuff. I don't recommend this approach when over a public connection though - this would be a find approach for intra-office or over a VPN. If they need this stuff on the road, it should be secured somehow and direct connects to SQL servers from client applications are generally discouraged from a security standpoint these days.

[Iane_Blaidd]

alsmack i cannot express how much i thank you for helping with this...i am going to have to put a pin it it for now to deal with something else for now. if you dont mind i would like to pick this up in a week or 2 when things calm down