help with making a program to make my life easier
 

hey im wrking as a IT techie at this school and also doing the btec nation diploma in ICT so i know what im doing.
Atm ive got teachers left right and centre asking me to fix their computer or add software for them and i was thinking about making a program that they fill out which then save it to a db then i could open up the db and see what teachers need what done.
I was thinkin about using MySQl is that a good idea? also what i want to know is would it be easy to do? would that work over the network?
thanks for your time ash

Re: help with making a program to make my life easier
 

You mean you want a web database application? If that is the case then yes you probably made a wise choice with MySQL. And it depends how easy that would be based on your knowledge. Have you used MySQL before? and if you are using it along with VB.NET then you may wish to consider this http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/administrator/1.0.html

Re: help with making a program to make my life easier
 

well i was thinking more of .exe but if a web based one wud be easier to do then ill try that and @ college ive done a database unit so i have a basic level of SQl i can create databases, tables and do simple queries and thanks for the reply
ash

Re: help with making a program to make my life easier
 

I wouldn't even bother. For as something as petty as this, just make a .php form save their request to a plain text file. A 10 minute job. No setting up any mysql server. No hassle. And most importantly: no difference. Done.

Re: help with making a program to make my life easier
 

If you're using VB.NET, you might consider staying within the Microsoft technologies, and use SQL Server or an SQL Express database. If you want them to all have easy access for adding stuff to your work queue, you'll probably want a web interface for it, so that they can all go to http://omghelp (or whatever), submit a simple form, and then it'll come out to you on the other side. This will require a computer to act as the web server, and it can hold the database as well.

Re: help with making a program to make my life easier
 

I'd go with a web based application, I made a system for our techie that keeps track of our customers.

I wrote it with CakePHP and MySQL

Re: help with making a program to make my life easier
 

Out of curiosity (and before this thread turns into "use this language 'cause I lieks it"), what languages are you already familiar with? I'm guessing VB since you posted it here, but others may work better for you if you're past the initial learning curve. Also, how presentable do you want your solution to be? A 5 minute whackjob with a couple input fields could be functional, or you could spend 1/2 hr styling it and making it look and work smoother. And finally, if you go with a web interface (as this thread has taken a turn towards), what hosting solutions do you have available?

Re: help with making a program to make my life easier
 

well hosting it im gonna use the schools servers and i know Vb a lilttle php html and MySQL and i want to spend as little time as poss

Re: help with making a program to make my life easier
 

and also if i went for the web based one will i have a problem of gettin on 2 the servers as i will be making @ home
ash

Re: help with making a program to make my life easier
 

That depends entirely on the infrastructure of your school's server. It's most likely to be a yes.

If you want to spend as little time as possible, I urge you to take my suggestion: use a .php script to throw the input from some fields straight into a text file. Then you don't even need to worry about making another script to read the text files. Just open them up in your browser.

If you start thinking about using a database, or any kind of web software solution, you're overcomplicating things for your requirements, giving your school more to mantain, and just making it more difficult on yourself. Chances are they don't even want you setting up a mysql database on the server, or using any prexisting database for that mater.

In short: throwing some input into a text file takes minimal knowledge, minimal hosting requirements, and minimal time. The end result is accessible from anywhere (given that your school's server can act as an externally accessible server), and will appear identical to any other solution.