> >I think you're right. This really limits the incentive to use Gnome-Db/GDA, if > >one still has to do all the form get/post grunt work. And it needs to be > >supported by some RAD tool, at least something like Glade. > >I still remember how powerful Borland's tools were for building simple database > >apps back when I developed on Windows-For-Workgroups (gawd!). At this point on > >Linux the OpenOffice form builder and database connectivity is the closest thing > >we have. > >1.) Define a connection > >2.) Define a query > >3.) Make a "form" (or screen whatevver) , attach it to a query > >4.) Populate the form with widgets attached to query elements. > >Lots of fancy stuff is nice, but the above satisfies 8 out of 10 situations (in > >my experience). > Its not quite that easy for building DB RAD tools. Inter-form > relationships, inter-widget relationships, cross dependencies of both > widgets and data, cause and effect on user actions, callback functions > and when to call/not call callback functions, dealing with datasources > that cover many tables, data validation, default values (always more of > a nightmare than you expect), and then making sure the data on the > screen is upto date with whats on the database and vis-verser. The > whole web post/get thing is so much easier data model to work but its > these kinda features most users demand of there databases. Maybe i need > to code less and sleep more. Coffee is evil. Anyway point is that you > have a limited use for software if you can only do as good as what you > can do on the web. I'm not talking about web forms; but functionality provided by a RAD to a very-long-time-ago. The reason to move from a Web to a Client interface is often simple one of speed and data-density (it is easier to pack more on a Client window than arrange sanely on a web page). Even OOo handles inter-form relationships, detail views, etc... but firing up an office package to provide a form seems like whacking a fly with an anvil (although CPU & RAM are so cheap these days I'm pretty close to just not caring anymore). I understand about the complexities, the joy of callbacks, data validation, etc... I'm currently writing an OpenGroupware client for GNOME, yikes! But solving many basic needs will attract, I suspect, more inertia and interest making the ugly plumbing easier. One of the most frequent complaints about the Linux Desktop that I hear is a lack of an Access equivalent. Currently what OOo provides is the nearest thing (that I know of). If someone hasn't checked out the forms system in OOo they should take a look just to see it, for potential inspiration if nothing else. It does linking of subordinate forms, detail views, etc... BTW, Does bond use GDA now? Last I looked at it it was for pgSQL only.
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