Newbie Ask: 1-Deployable Online? 2-Can I dump Access?

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Mel_3
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Newbie Ask: 1-Deployable Online? 2-Can I dump Access?

Post by Mel_3 »

1 - Is this a complete data base system that allows you to design databases, forms, queries, reports, etc like MS Access?

2 - Does it have a GUI interface like Access or must you create your queries in SQL ?

3 - Can you "split" the database with the front end on clients machines and the backend on a server or peer-to-peer server?

4 - Can it 'migrate' or 'convert' existing MS Access db's... tables, queries, forms, reports, logic, etc or must you recreate all or part? If so what part? Recreating all the forms, reports, etc is a lot of work :)

5 - Can you put this online so anyone can access it? If so what scripting language must one learn to create the web pages for online access?

6 - How many simultaneous users can access it online?

7 - If online use grows how hard to convert to MySQL? Will the same scripts work for MySQL? Is it an easy conversion?

Sorry for all the questions but I need a quick start here and asking specific questions and talking with knowledgeable experts has always helped me get going quicker than Googling and reading for hours :)

Thanks for any help
OOo 2.3.X on Ms Windows XP
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Villeroy
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Re: Newbie Ask: 1-Deployable Online? 2-Can I dump Access?

Post by Villeroy »

Mel_3 wrote:1 - Is this a complete data base system that allows you to design databases, forms, queries, reports, etc like MS Access?
Yes, sort of. It has been around since 2005 and certainly it took not a tiny fraction of the developer resources as Access did.
Mel_3 wrote: 2 - Does it have a GUI interface like Access or must you create your queries in SQL ?
You better use SQL, really. There is a GUI for very simple SELECTs only.
Mel_3 wrote: 3 - Can you "split" the database with the front end on clients machines and the backend on a server or peer-to-peer server?
No. The built-in, standalone type of database packs binary data into a zip file (the *.odb document). That's it. Bad performance, no security(permissions), bad safety, ...
Mel_3 wrote: 4 - Can it 'migrate' or 'convert' existing MS Access db's... tables, queries, forms, reports, logic, etc or must you recreate all or part? If so what part? Recreating all the forms, reports, etc is a lot of work :)
Under Windows you can connect to Access just like you can connect Access to foreign dbs through "drivers". Forms and reports are nothing but forms and controls on a Writer document, which itself is embedded in the zip file (*.odb document).
Mel_3 wrote: 5 - Can you put this online so anyone can access it? If so what scripting language must one learn to create the web pages for online access?
No. The embedded self-contained database is a proprietary format. You can extract it's data and serve it with a hsql server http://hsqldb.org
Mel_3 wrote: 6 - How many simultaneous users can access it online?
You're kidding?
Mel_3 wrote: 7 - If online use grows how hard to convert to MySQL? Will the same scripts work for MySQL? Is it an easy conversion?
Use MySQL, PostGre, MSSQL, Oracle in the first place. Base is a very good tool to serve those data to office documents (mail merge, pivot tables, printable reports,...)
Mel_3 wrote: Sorry for all the questions but I need a quick start here and asking specific questions and talking with knowledgeable experts has always helped me get going quicker than Googling and reading for hours :)

Thanks for any help
A tiny example of a self-contained hsqldb in Base: http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/ ... hp?id=1266 with a form and a subform.
OOo has integrated http://hsqldb.org in order to produce this type of database in a single file.
Please, edit this topic's initial post and add "[Solved]" to the subject line if your problem has been solved.
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acknak
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Re: Newbie Ask: 1-Deployable Online? 2-Can I dump Access?

Post by acknak »

Villeroy wrote:...
Mel_3 wrote: 3 - Can you "split" the database with the front end on clients machines and the backend on a server or peer-to-peer server?
No. The built-in, standalone type of database packs binary data into a zip file (the *.odb document). That's it. Bad performance, no security(permissions), bad safety, ...
...
Just to be clear: OOo provides no database server capability. However, you can use OOo for client access to a separate database server.

Using only OOo, with no other software, you only have access to local database files or the embedded database that Villeroy refers to.

OOo Base was designed to provide access for office documents (text documents, merges, spreadsheets) to data stored in a database. It was not designed to be a general-purpose database product like Access, although it has recently moved a little more in that direction.
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