Want to make a SQL Database with forms, how?

[wjgollatz]

I don't know if such a program exists, or if it can easily be done in Visual Basic.

I want to create a client, employee and employee work/payroll history. And I would like to create a set of forms to retirve and calculate data. For instance, create a report of what an employee worked for a given time period, and calculate pay based on variable in the work record.

I am not a data or visuakl basic expert, but it is stuff I can learn, but I am hitting some stumbling blocks and do not know what I have to pursue. My only familiarity is Open Office database which seems, unfinished and unworkable.

Is there a application I can uise, that is available for free, where I can easily (for instance visually) create database with tables, keys, and relations. And draw forms to represent that data with embedded searches and calculations of that data?

Or - should I just be buying Microsoft Access for $140?

 

[beginner99]

What are you using it for? How important will this application be? I mean you could consider to hire someone exterenal an do it especially if it is for commercial use and important for the company.
I would not recommend MS Access. There still is a learning curve attached and if you don't understand relational database and sql, your application will suck even with the "wizards". Also it has soem serious limitations.

SQL is pretty simple in the basics. Just google for a tutorial. if you are not dumb, you should be able to learn it in no time.

For the forms I would go with MS (= Visual Studio Express) and preferably the c# version or IMHO the better way would be to go java based and use Netbeans IDE. Netbeans has some pretty cool wizards (code generators) too. good for learning and it can create forms based on your database tables. Pretty much like Access just a bit more flexible but more complicated.

But there is a learning curve. So if you are not willing to invest a lot of time probably also of your free time depening on your workload, don't do it yourself because it will suck then.

 

[KB]

Microsoft Access will aid you in all of the steps you mentioned; however it won't teach you good database design or programming practice. I think if you start using Access and run into problems you will learn from those issues, so it may be a good starting point. Hiring someone else to do it will be faster but you won't learn as much.

There are some Open Source alternatives to Access including http://www.kexi-project.org/ and http://www.glom.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page but they aren't as advanced.

 

[Nothinman]

I'm pretty sure I've seen web based time tracking software that's free. To me that would make a lot more sense than wasting time writing something that's been done a dozen times over.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_time_tracking_software
http://www.debianadmin.com/opensource-timesheet-management-tools.html

 

[Oyster]

Please don't use Access if you plan on utilizing this application for a long time. There are free DB engines you can utilize to facilitate your learning and hosting your data. SQL Server Express (has a 4GB limit) and Oracle Express (Not sure, but I think it used to be 150MB). Alternatively, you can also look into something like PostgreSQL for your DB - free, open source, and no limits.

If you must learn, I'd suggest go with C#/Visual Studio or Java/Eclipse (you can use Netbeans, but Eclipse is just too good). Then use a proper backend DB.

 

[GeekDrew]

Please don't use Access if you plan on utilizing this application for a long time. There are free DB engines you can utilize to facilitate your learning and hosting your data. SQL Server Express (has a 4GB limit) and Oracle Express (Not sure, but I think it used to be 150MB). Alternatively, you can also look into something like PostgreSQL for your DB - free, open source, and no limits.

If you must learn, I'd suggest go with C#/Visual Studio or Java/Eclipse (you can use Netbeans, but Eclipse is just too good). Then use a proper backend DB.

IMO, this depends on how motivated he is, how quickly the project has to be done, and whether or not anyone else will ever have to support it. I've used Access as a front end to databases in MS SQL Server, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. I'd never use it as the database engine, but I don't really mind it for forms.