What next II ? (1 Viewer)

[ECEK]

Having asked opinion on what to study to further my skills beyond Access I would like to ask the following:

I want to be able to do everything I can over a network but over the internet.

All of my "local" programs but fixed to and secured over the wonderful wibbily webberly !!

Where do you start?
What would be the right solution?

 

[plog]

What would be the right solution?

42.

Now we need to know the full question. Your post provided no details of what your local programs are or do. Nor your skillset.

Without that information this would be the generic web path to follow:

HTML
CSS
JavaScript
Then decide on a server side scripting language (PHP, ASP, tons of others).
Then decide on an appropriate web database (MySql, Postgres, SQLServer, etc.)
Then research a web framework and see if learning it would be appropriate.

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

This udemy course (which is free) is excellent. It will give you much of what do you want I reckon. I'm about halfway through it, and I can't fault the course.

Well a small problem in finding all of the asociated example code, however much of it is available if you search the Internet:- https://www.udemy.com/php-mysql-tutorial/

 

[ECEK]

Thanks Gizmo that's really helpful just what I was was looking for.

I was under the impression that sharepoint could also be an option or solution?
Ill give this a go.

If that doesn't work then I'll just learn...HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, ASP, tons of others
MySql, Postgres, SQLServer, etc and then a web framework.

How hard can it be ?

 

[Minty]

I've not checked for a long time - but I was under the impression that Sharepoint gets expensive for lots of users. Maybe someone else has more recent experience.

From a learning perspective I don't think you can't go wrong learning how SQL server works. It makes an obvious upgrade path for Access backends that need better security and scale-ability.

 

[stopher]

If that doesn't work then I'll just learn...HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, ASP, tons of others
MySql, Postgres, SQLServer, etc and then a web framework.

How hard can it be ?

If you answer the questions that Plog raised then, the path should be clearer.
- What technologies are currently being used in your current environment?
- What is your current experience?

There's no point investing time up front on PHP/mySql if your business is on the path of SqlServer/ASP.net. I would suggest at your level you don't try to take both approaches.

Also if you like programming/form design and particularly OOP then you might prefer ASP.net. If you come from a more html background then PHP may be of more interest to you. As Plog said there are other approaches.

hth

 

[jdraw]

Further to what others have said/suggested:

What do you do currently?
How did you get into your current position?
What is causing you to question what's next?
What are your interests? Skills? Ambitions?
Are you analytical? theoretical? practical?

Do you have a long term goal or career in mind? What are the impediments to achieving this?

Review some of these to get an assessment of your current status. These are the "sort" of details readers need to make any recommendations.

Just as an aside, during my real work life we hired some people who had graduated from some adult retraining programs. These were people who had worked in various jobs and had enrolled and graduated from community college in general information management, programming and systems streams.
I was in charge of a data management section (database, data dictionary, data modelling).
-A former shoe salesman became one of the best maintenance programmers. Attention to detail and "nit-picking" ability to review and correct/adjust code written by others were strong traits. Later became a C programmer during conversion of major applications to new environments.
-A former salesperson at drug store was seen to have great analytical skills and ability to conceptualize and communicate - became db analyst, modeller and then dba.

I offer this to show that "what's next" often depends on interest and initiative (and luck).

Good luck.

 

[ECEK]

I guess my illustration was too simplistic.

It's clear that being able to do everything that I can with Access as a stand alone program (on a network etc using runtime etc) isn't easily transferable to the internet.

I was hoping that I could effectively create forms etc and manipulate data from a web page that looks to a server.

Being able to write all the back-end manipulations etc all from a web portal (as one would from a form on your desk top.

I fail to see what line of business has to do with it.

I thought my question was clear. I want to do what I can already do in access but over the internet.

If I can build a work log on my desktop: I can build a work-log on the internet
If I can build an employee database: I can build an employee database on the internet.

Is that any clearer ?

 

[stopher]

I guess my illustration was too simplistic.

It's clear that being able to do everything that I can with Access as a stand alone program (on a network etc using runtime etc) isn't easily transferable to the internet.

I was hoping that I could effectively create forms etc and manipulate data from a web page that looks to a server.

Being able to write all the back-end manipulations etc all from a web portal (as one would from a form on your desk top.

I fail to see what line of business has to do with it.

I thought my question was clear. I want to do what I can already do in access but over the internet.

If I can build a work log on my desktop: I can build a work-log on the internet
If I can build an employee database: I can build an employee database on the internet.

Is that any clearer ?

Well in the absence of any answers to the questions you've been asked, I'll just suggest one route at random:

- Find a 3rd party hosting service that hosts mysql/php
- Create database in mysql
- Create some html pages with php scripts
- write some php to do some fancy stuff.

My reasons for suggesting this route:
- all the software set up is done for you
- you can get writing scripts quickly
- it's a mainstream approach (one of many)
- if you are familiar with creating tables in Access using SQL then doing it in mySQL will be an easy transition
- there's loads of tutorials for mysql and also for php.

Good luck.

 

[Uncle Gizmo]

I want to do what I can already do in access but over the internet.

A good way of doing it without changing any of your MS Access stuff would be to use Citrix server. I have come across this once in my travels, and I quite liked it. I also understand that CJ London is familiar with this method.

 

[Simon_MT]

Or Microsoft's Remote Desktop Services formerly Terminal Services.

 

[Lightwave]

If I can build a work log on my desktop: I can build a work-log on the internet
If I can build an employee database: I can build an employee database on the internet.

The unicorn of access on the web doesn't quite exist yet I am afraid.

BUT

I think your closest match is either a hosted PHP Application generator or a hosted ASP.NET application generator

Whatever you do you will need to spend money on a web host.

The minimum this is likely to cost you is in the region of $15 a month. If you don't want to spend the next 6 months learning about the insides and outsides of frameworks then I would suggest you go to one of the below three providers who all provide complete environments set up and ready to go with their particular generators pre-installed. This is good value you cannot beat these guys on cloud hosting costs and unless you are very advanced and have very particular requirements its a waste of time to try.

I have a cloud hosted provision with Nubuilder Pro - I pay a monthly amount and I can create as many applications as I can fit within my space ( which is more than I can use even on the lowest version ). There are a number of providers that do this. With nubuilder the software is free. With other providers the software that helps manage the construction of the site (like access on the web is not free) Whatever you go for you will need a webserver. Paying one of the guys below means they set up the environment for you. Which is a BIG step forward.

Be warned n-tier web applications do not play as friendly as the desktop you WILL be slower to construct applications than you are on the desktop, getting into it WILL take time and a bit of commitment, you WILL have far less flexibility regards coding, there WILL be less people about to ask questions and there is far far less WYSWIG design capabilities, error trapping is poor and errors are far more likely to be fatal and the really big warning is that on release of new web frameworks you may not necessarily be able to update without a full site re-design (A fact that comes as a nasty surprise to many CIOs and Project Managers when they realise that they are locked into front end system replacements every 4 or 5 years ) Know how to get data to your local environment out of the back end and accept that the front end is ephemeral and not likely to last in the same way as your desktop applications. (Your database will last but don't expect to be running it through the same front end ten years from now)

That said the design of these items is significantly faster than its ever been.

Scriptcase and PHPRunner have free downloads that are good for getting started.

Commit to one and go for it. - I've gone the php route. Nubuilder only connects to MySQL whereas Scriptcase and PHPRunner connect to pretty much any database. I started with Nubuilder and probably will use Scriptcase as well because importantly it connects to anything and the design options are more polished. It is actually not quite as conceptually elegant as Nubuilder which despite its rather drab looks is incredibly flexible. I would probably be able to change it s look if I was prepared to get my own server and install everything on it myself. That is not something I have time to do at present.
Nubuilder and Scriptcase have web design facility so you actually design them through a web page. PHP Runner is more traditional in that you have a program running on a desktop and then you publish your application up to the web server.

Zoho Creator / Alpha 5 hold your hand even more but as a result are even more proprietary and fantastically expensive

Nubuilder Pro
https://www.nubuilder.net/hosting.php

Scriptcase
http://www.scriptcase.net/

PHP Runner
https://xlinesoft.com/phprunner

Good luck