Advice Please

[dreamdelerium]

hello all. ive been asked to write a program to deal with supply chains (tracking commodities, personnel, etc). I want to create a program that will allow multiple office to run the same software and update their local databases as well as a central database. does anyone have any advice on how to best go about it? any good reading suggestions? particularly id like to know how to best send the data/recieve it, and store it so that all offices can see, edit, and store the data both locally, and over the internet.

thanks
jason

[cyberM]

How I see the situation, access is too small for serious db work.
IBM databases are strong and complex and faster.
.Net is the best developing technology.

Are you need some learning material ?

[kleinma]

IBM databases are strong and complex and faster.

Why not SQL Server?

[techgnome]

the first thing to decide is what the database development platform will be.... as cyberM noted, Access probably will not work in this case, it could, but it also depends on how you want to update this central db.... as well as the number of concurrent users, and the amount of data you want to deal with. SQL Server, Oracle, and probably even mySQL would probably be better - they're going to scale better than Access.

Once you decide that, then further decisions can be made on how to design the rest of the system.

-tg

[keystone_paul]

it also depends on how you want to update this central db

I'd say that was the key question - Access may be perfectly fine if there are two elements to the data - a common read-only set of data downloaded from a server and then a read-write database for each instance of the application.

I'd throw Ingres into the mix if you need an enterprise level database but have a limited budget - it is on a par with Oracle for power but is now open source so there is no license fee, and it comes with ADO.Net drivers.

[techgnome]

"Ingres into the mix if you need an enterprise level database but have a limited budget - it is on a par with Oracle for power but is now open source so there is no license fee, and it comes with ADO.Net drivers."
No kidding? The name rings a bell, but I don't think I've ever used it... which surprises me... I'll have to look it up this weekend....

-tg

[keystone_paul]

Ah.. you're probably not as old as me!

Ingres were a big name in the 80s and early 90s but lost out in the "VHS vs Betamax" equivalent database wars to Oracle. For years they've had a large but unglamorous installed base mostly in government and educational establishments and have plugged along quietly in the background.

Last year they took the decision to go open-source and have had a real push to get more people using it including writing all the .Net stuff.

I worked for a consultancy/systems integrator in the UK who they acquired and although I'd not used it since circa 1990 until then I was pretty impressed. I don't work for them any more but would be happy enough to recommend the product. Its less polished than SQL server, but is a more "grown up" and extremely robust enterprise database and the tools should be improving all the time. The fact that it is free and properly scaleable (unlike MySQL) means its worth serious consideration for large-scale databases.

[kleinma]

Ingres is actually the grandfather of SQL Server

[keystone_paul]

Ingres is actually the grandfather of SQL Server

Indeed... and quite a few others. But they are giving themselves a facelift

The site if you want to know more is : www.ingres.com

[kleinma]

Yeah I did not mean it to sounds as though "it is the grandfather therefor it is old and outdated". I just meant it has obvious merit when so many other DB formats were created from it.

[keystone_paul]

Yeah I did not mean it to sounds as though "it is the grandfather therefor it is old and outdated". I just meant it has obvious merit when so many other DB formats were created from it.

I know, but that is however the prevailing view of those who do remember it!

I can assure you the people at head office in California are all very young and trendy these days, even if the CEO did remind me hugely of Steve Carell in the US version of The Office!

[techgnome]

Ahhh.... that's probably why the name sounded familiar, but couldn't place it. It must have been from my Ancient History Computing class ( j/k )

Sometimes it's the tried and true methods that are best. I got my latest copy of SDTimes, and in it is an article about how despite the age of FORTRAN, it is still around and in heavy use - "The Language That Just Won't Die" it read... Hey if it works, don't break it.

-tg

[mendhak]

hello all. ive been asked to write a program to deal with supply chains (tracking commodities, personnel, etc). I want to create a program that will allow multiple office to run the same software and update their local databases as well as a central database. does anyone have any advice on how to best go about it? any good reading suggestions? particularly id like to know how to best send the data/recieve it, and store it so that all offices can see, edit, and store the data both locally, and over the internet.

thanks
jason

Do a search for ADO.NET tutorials. Then, start by designing your database so that you know how you want the information to sit there.

[dreamdelerium]

hi,
thanks everyone for your advice. yeah, i wasnt planning on using access for this project as i beleive the data being stored may be to large and access seems to have problems when dealing with large amounts of data (in the end it will be up to the guys that want to pay for it). i also need to allow multiple parties to access the databases at the same time. i was thinking Sql or MySql (im gonna check out Ingress as well). the data base design i think i have a good handle on. im looking more for reading materials dealing with the programatic side. i want to make sure i avoid any common pitfalls especially when i comes to a database where multiple parties would be connecting. also, i could really use some reading materials that deal with how to logically plan out a program that will be large

thanks again everyone for your help