[aklug] Re: Speaking of GitHub and Google and Larry

On 08/19/2013 12:51 PM, Bruce Hill wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 11:38:01AM -0800, Tim Johnson wrote:
> Thanks, Tim! I'm not aware of or familiar with dazzlepod, but do see they use
> MySQL. Last week I got a 404 on the privacy info because the link was
> incorrect, and it told me they use a RedHat server.
>
> Well, so far all they've done is import a spreadsheet file that was the exit
> file for Jackrabbit Class in March of this year. It was titled
> Export_Happy_Penguin_Gym.xls. After Jackrabbit we used iClassPro for about 2
> months. Studio Director said, "I'm not able to read tupelo-export.txt (the
> iClassPro exit file), it's not a text file." My Linux box says this about it:
>
> tupelo-export.txt: Little-endian UTF-16 Unicode text, with CRLF, CR line
> terminators
>
> I've not installed, or looked at, MySQL. Wish it were as simple as build,
> install, launch, input data. I'd just do it myself. For now, I'm inputting
> data into The Studio Director's software. Just the little bit my friend in
> London told me about RDBMS clues me in to some things I'm seeing entering data
> into The Studio Director, and his answer to my questions, such as:
>
> Q. How do I enter a second guardian (parent)?
> A. You can either put both names in the guardian field (e.g. Mark and Jane),
> or you can enter the second parent's name in the notes field.
>
> From my friend's intro over IRC, it appears that The Studio Director does not
> have a student_id field in their Guardians Table.
>
>
> I'm only minutes into inputting data, and already have problems with the way
> The Studio Director has setup their db. That's very disappointing, but maybe I
> can make it work for the amount of time it takes me to learn MySQL and setup
> my own.
>
> ignorance != bliss
>
> Cheers,
> Bruce

There is another option: Libreoffice Base. It is more or less the free
software equivalent of MS Access. Great for small, custom jobs.

It has an interface and wizards for creating the tables, setting up
entry forms, and generating reports. Stores the data on disk in a single
file. Set up a script to back up the file once in a while and you're
good to go. If you get 1000+ employees or so, you might want to go to a
customized MySQL and Web interface... but if you have that many
employees you can probably afford to have one of them doing all the
coding for you. ;)

BTW: I've wondered for a while if might be possible for a guy to make
some money simply producing customized Base systems for people. I knew
professor once who said that he used to have a full time job creating
Access databases.
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Received on Mon Aug 19 15:30:41 2013