Please Recommend a Front End App
Newbie - please help me choose a direction.
I want to know what would be the best front-end app/language to use for
postgresql for exact form replication and ease of use. PHP, Python,
Java, Rekall (the Kompany), other? All suggestions welcome and appreciated.
Background-------------------
I am coming from Filemaker Pro 5.0 and Mac OS 10.2.8.
I am the newest of newbies to postgresql. I just downloaded the
database today. I have not started the database and do not even know if
I can run it on my computers. I have a few old WinTel machines at home
but run mainly Macs at the office.
One important solution I created in Filemaker Pro requires very detailed
and exact replication of official court forms with database data entered
on the forms. Imagine a form with small type, boxes and spacing that
must be exactly as on the official form and data from the database on
the form as printed to pdf. One nice thing about Filemaker is that its
reporting ability is very flexible.
I also have an extensive solution with approx 50 tables/databases to run
my small business. I built a calendar, contacts, clients, timelog, and
billing solution. I have been bumping my head against Filemaker Pro's
50 database limit for years - server would allow you 125 databases for
about $1000. For those of you with no experience with Filemaker, a
database is a table. Each file only has one table and all
layouts/reports/forms and scripts are in the same file. This setup has
pros and cons that are irrelevant now.
I am trying to migrate to linux and postgresql. I love the MacOS but
they just upgraded to 10.4 (tiger) and made 3 of my iMacs obsolete
because they do not have on-board firewire so are not supported by
10.4. Funny how Linux can be compiled to run on a 386 intel chip from a
floppy drive but MacOS cannot now run without firewire on a 4 year old
computer.
Filemaker.com created Filemaker Pro 7 which adds great features and
removes the 50 table limit - with a $1000 price tag for 3 units and a
5-simultaneous-user limit. The upgrade to 7 may require extensive
changes to my solutions. Now would be a natural time to change to a new
system since I have to relearn/change everything anyway. Additionally,
I can only assume that I will be in for more of the same treatment as I
and people like me get our data more entrenched in their proprietary
business models.
Thanks for your help.
On May 12, 2005, at 7:06 PM, Kurt Gibson wrote:
One important solution I created in Filemaker Pro requires very
detailed and exact replication of official court forms with database
data entered on the forms. Imagine a form with small type, boxes and
spacing that must be exactly as on the official form and data from the
database on the form as printed to pdf. One nice thing about
Filemaker is that its reporting ability is very flexible.I also have an extensive solution with approx 50 tables/databases to
run my small business. I built a calendar, contacts, clients,
timelog, and billing solution. I have been bumping my head against
Filemaker Pro's 50 database limit for years - server would allow you
125 databases for about $1000. For those of you with no experience
with Filemaker, a database is a table. Each file only has one table
and all layouts/reports/forms and scripts are in the same file. This
setup has pros and cons that are irrelevant now.
I'm not familiar with FileMaker, but my understanding is that it can
communicate with other databases via ODBC. Would it not be possible to
keep your investment (at least for a while) in the front end forms and
convert to PostgreSQL as the data store?
John DeSoi, Ph.D.
http://pgedit.com/
Power Tools for PostgreSQL
with Filemaker, a database is a table. Each file only has one table
and all layouts/reports/forms and scripts are in the same file. This
setup has pros and cons that are irrelevant now.I'm not familiar with FileMaker, but my understanding is that it can
communicate with other databases via ODBC. Would it not be possible to
keep your investment (at least for a while) in the front end forms and
convert to PostgreSQL as the data store?
I don't think FileMaker is quite as flexible as say Access in that way.
However they may want to look in to Paradox?
Sincerely,
Joshua D. Drake
Kurt, you might want to take a look at OpenRPT (http://pgfoundry.org/projects/openrpt/) - it's a Crystal/Access type report builder for PostgreSQL that works great on any of the feline Mac products.
We don't do print to PDF yet, however, someone has raised his hand to work on that with some existing libraries.
Cheers,
Ned
Kurt Gibson wrote:
Show quoted text
Newbie - please help me choose a direction.
I want to know what would be the best front-end app/language to use for
postgresql for exact form replication and ease of use. PHP, Python,
Java, Rekall (the Kompany), other? All suggestions welcome and
appreciated.Background-------------------
I am coming from Filemaker Pro 5.0 and Mac OS 10.2.8.
I am the newest of newbies to postgresql. I just downloaded the
database today. I have not started the database and do not even know if
I can run it on my computers. I have a few old WinTel machines at home
but run mainly Macs at the office.One important solution I created in Filemaker Pro requires very detailed
and exact replication of official court forms with database data entered
on the forms. Imagine a form with small type, boxes and spacing that
must be exactly as on the official form and data from the database on
the form as printed to pdf. One nice thing about Filemaker is that its
reporting ability is very flexible.I also have an extensive solution with approx 50 tables/databases to run
my small business. I built a calendar, contacts, clients, timelog, and
billing solution. I have been bumping my head against Filemaker Pro's
50 database limit for years - server would allow you 125 databases for
about $1000. For those of you with no experience with Filemaker, a
database is a table. Each file only has one table and all
layouts/reports/forms and scripts are in the same file. This setup has
pros and cons that are irrelevant now.I am trying to migrate to linux and postgresql. I love the MacOS but
they just upgraded to 10.4 (tiger) and made 3 of my iMacs obsolete
because they do not have on-board firewire so are not supported by
10.4. Funny how Linux can be compiled to run on a 386 intel chip from a
floppy drive but MacOS cannot now run without firewire on a 4 year old
computer.Filemaker.com created Filemaker Pro 7 which adds great features and
removes the 50 table limit - with a $1000 price tag for 3 units and a
5-simultaneous-user limit. The upgrade to 7 may require extensive
changes to my solutions. Now would be a natural time to change to a new
system since I have to relearn/change everything anyway. Additionally,
I can only assume that I will be in for more of the same treatment as I
and people like me get our data more entrenched in their proprietary
business models.Thanks for your help.
---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
TIP 8: explain analyze is your friend
Though I haven't embarked on any expeditions into the world of printing
yet, I've found Python to be a terrific language for db access. My
solution uses Apple hardware, OSX, postgres, the psycopg programming
interface to Python, Python, and my slowboat hacking with wxPython to
build a GUI front end. So far so good! (Thanks in large part to
useful info from this mail list!)
Before you compost your older iMacs, you might want to check out
YellowDog Linux. I've run various releases of their OS over the years
and it's a great way to keep your hardware viable.
Best luck -
Scott
On May 12, 2005, at 4:06 PM, Kurt Gibson wrote:
Show quoted text
Newbie - please help me choose a direction.
I want to know what would be the best front-end app/language to use
for postgresql for exact form replication and ease of use. PHP,
Python, Java, Rekall (the Kompany), other? All suggestions welcome
and appreciated.Background-------------------
I am coming from Filemaker Pro 5.0 and Mac OS 10.2.8.
I am the newest of newbies to postgresql. I just downloaded the
database today. I have not started the database and do not even know
if I can run it on my computers. I have a few old WinTel machines at
home but run mainly Macs at the office.One important solution I created in Filemaker Pro requires very
detailed and exact replication of official court forms with database
data entered on the forms. Imagine a form with small type, boxes and
spacing that must be exactly as on the official form and data from the
database on the form as printed to pdf. One nice thing about
Filemaker is that its reporting ability is very flexible.I also have an extensive solution with approx 50 tables/databases to
run my small business. I built a calendar, contacts, clients,
timelog, and billing solution. I have been bumping my head against
Filemaker Pro's 50 database limit for years - server would allow you
125 databases for about $1000. For those of you with no experience
with Filemaker, a database is a table. Each file only has one table
and all layouts/reports/forms and scripts are in the same file. This
setup has pros and cons that are irrelevant now.I am trying to migrate to linux and postgresql. I love the MacOS but
they just upgraded to 10.4 (tiger) and made 3 of my iMacs obsolete
because they do not have on-board firewire so are not supported by
10.4. Funny how Linux can be compiled to run on a 386 intel chip from
a floppy drive but MacOS cannot now run without firewire on a 4 year
old computer.Filemaker.com created Filemaker Pro 7 which adds great features and
removes the 50 table limit - with a $1000 price tag for 3 units and a
5-simultaneous-user limit. The upgrade to 7 may require extensive
changes to my solutions. Now would be a natural time to change to a
new system since I have to relearn/change everything anyway.
Additionally, I can only assume that I will be in for more of the same
treatment as I and people like me get our data more entrenched in
their proprietary business models.Thanks for your help.
---------------------------(end of
broadcast)---------------------------
TIP 8: explain analyze is your friend
On May 12, 2005, at 7:44 PM, John DeSoi wrote:
On May 12, 2005, at 7:06 PM, Kurt Gibson wrote:
One important solution I created in Filemaker Pro requires very
detailed and exact replication of official court forms with database
data entered on the forms. Imagine a form with small type, boxes and
spacing that must be exactly as on the official form and data from
the database on the form as printed to pdf. One nice thing about
Filemaker is that its reporting ability is very flexible.I also have an extensive solution with approx 50 tables/databases to
run my small business. I built a calendar, contacts, clients,
timelog, and billing solution. I have been bumping my head against
Filemaker Pro's 50 database limit for years - server would allow you
125 databases for about $1000. For those of you with no experience
with Filemaker, a database is a table. Each file only has one table
and all layouts/reports/forms and scripts are in the same file. This
setup has pros and cons that are irrelevant now.I'm not familiar with FileMaker, but my understanding is that it can
communicate with other databases via ODBC. Would it not be possible to
keep your investment (at least for a while) in the front end forms and
convert to PostgreSQL as the data store?
I have some colleagues who have tried to do this, but it seems that
this (at least in their hands) is a bit of pie-in-the-sky. I'd love to
hear otherwise, but I'm not sure this is a viable solution,
particularly using Filemaker 5, which is not truly relational.
Sean
Hi
Why not take a look at Rekall - http://www.totalrekall.co.uk. Rekall is a
RAD tool for building database applications. It is similar to both
FileMaker and MS Access but costs a faction of the price. Rekall supports
PostreSQL natively as well as several other database engines. An ODBC
interface driver is available if needed. Rekall runs on Windows, Linux and
Mac X OS ( this a first beta release ). There is also available a Run Time
version of Rekall, which allows you to distribute your application, without
the need for your clients the buy a full developer edition. The Run Time
version prevents people from making alterations to your application. A
version of the Rekall Run Time system, which will include on-the-fly
encryption/decryption of your application, will be available soon
At 00:57 13/05/2005, Joshua D. Drake wrote:
with Filemaker, a database is a table. Each file only has one table and
all layouts/reports/forms and scripts are in the same file. This setup
has pros and cons that are irrelevant now.I'm not familiar with FileMaker, but my understanding is that it can
communicate with other databases via ODBC. Would it not be possible to
keep your investment (at least for a while) in the front end forms and
convert to PostgreSQL as the data store?I don't think FileMaker is quite as flexible as say Access in that way.
However they may want to look in to Paradox?Sincerely,
Joshua D. Drake
---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
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Regards
John Dean,
co-author of Rekall,
the only alternative
to MS Access
Kurt Gibson wrote:
One important solution I created in Filemaker Pro requires very
detailed and exact replication of official court forms with database
data entered on the forms. Imagine a form with small type, boxes and
spacing that must be exactly as on the official form and data from
the database on the form as printed to pdf. One nice thing about
Filemaker is that its reporting ability is very flexible.
There's a Python package which allows to create PDFs directly from
Postgres: Openreport. It's made by the same company which has also
implemented TinyERP (see below).
Otherwise, OpenOffice has a nice database interface which allows to
fill OO forms from Postgres, among others.
I also have an extensive solution with approx 50 tables/databases to
run my small business.
TinyERP? It uses Postgres.
I am trying to migrate to linux and postgresql. I love the MacOS but
they just upgraded to 10.4 (tiger) and made 3 of my iMacs obsolete
because they do not have on-board firewire so are not supported by
10.4.
Ouch. X-(
Funny how Linux can be compiled to run on a 386 intel chip
from a floppy drive but MacOS cannot now run without firewire on a 4
year old computer.
Well, Jobs doesn't want to allow it to do so, because Apple needs to
pay the fuel bills for his bizjet, I guess...
Sincerely,
Wolfgang Keller