Gossamer Forum
Home : Products : DBMan : Customization :

Mod ??? -- from a DBMan Newbie!!!

Quote Reply
Mod ??? -- from a DBMan Newbie!!!
SmileGood Day! This is rather long, but any helpful hints on getting this going would be greatly appreciated!

This morning, I demo'd DBMan (mildly customized for our dataset) that I set up on our website for my boss and key co-work. I have a go to customize DBMan for our use (and get it licensed!) I'm very impressed with DBMan --- wish I could use the SQL version! (our current ISP doesn't support SQL and since I need this this week, I'm not gonna change... YET) Anyway, we had a meeting this morning and these are the MOD's I need to make. I'm hoping some of you can point me to some canned mods that will do these things and I won't have to reinvent any wheels -- just tweek them!

Our application is a "Change Request" data input to be downloaded and then QA'd by staff and records appended to our existing assets DB (all relational in VFP 6 and will eventually be web exposed for direct access --- but that is Phase 3 -- down the road) Right now we are using DBMan as an interim step.

Phase I of this implimentation is to use DBMan to have clients enter records they want added/changed/deleted from their database. So the "ADD" feature will be used to add records that are actual add requests, change requests and delete requests. DBMan's Modify and Delete features will be used only to Modify Requests and Delete Requests for changes to the clients database. As I see it, I need to make modifications to:

1 -- Change titles and names of links to add the word "Request" at the bottom of the page...

2 -- I need to add a short explanation page before the main menu (after login) to explain that they are making ADD/DELETE/CHANGE REQUESTS to the database and not directly changing data

3 -- Under the ADD REQUEST link, I need to have different forms for ADD Requests, Change Requests, Delete Requests whereas DBMan's Modify, Delete, View and List_All functions remain the same

4 -- I need to have related select fields: one is SITE and ROOM is dependent on SITE (they can be static for now - but under phase two will need to be dynamically filled)

4 -- Under the Add REQUEST -- Add/change forms need to be Multiple Page (2) and the delete form needs to have a limited number of fields.

5 -- each type of request (add/delete/change) will have a different set of required fields!

6 -- change/delete requests need to have a client keyfield verification (barcode -- enter twice and they must match or have to re-enter?) to make sure they are selecting a valid record from the existing DB (which will not be online until Phase 2) -- I will use unique id (numeric) for the surrogate record keys within the flat file.

7 -- I would like to email our office after each SESSION -not after each record is added/changed/deleted from the Change REQUESTs. --

8 -- After each session is downloaded, I would like to mark the records in some way to indicate that we have downloaded/processed them. I also need to leave the records in the database until after they are billed for the changes and can verify that the changes we sent them are what they wanted. Then I would like to archive that set of records (in a way that they can be retrieved if desired)

Phase 2 will use DBMan and my Fox programming skills to upload the data in their database and let clients view static data but not change it. It will have fields to show what has been modified/when/bywhom... I don't want clients to modify that view data but to be able to use that data to build an add/change/delete request record from it. I assume I can give those records a specific userid and then only ADMIN can change them? Can I even keep ADMIN from changing them? (like have a Superadmin that is US and an Admin that is the main contact at the client -- limiting what they can do to adding users and setting their permissions?)

Phase 3 will not use DBMan but will natively expose our live database to the web interface and be a whole different ballgame. I'm in for some fun times over the next few months!!!!

Any ideas on which existing mods can help get me started would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks
Lynette
Hollister, Ca
Quote Reply
Re: [ltillner] Mod ??? -- from a DBMan Newbie!!! In reply to
As mentioned in a previous post reply. Check out the DBMan FAQ noted below. You will find many tips and tricks for
setting up your database.

Viewing all the possibilities will give you better ideas of how to setup your database to do exactly what you want and need. There is a also a list of many many mods written for DBMan.

The FAQ came about from my many months of searching all the available mods, etc. to use in my databases. The information is there, you just have to take time to locate it and find examples from what others have done.

Unoffical DBMan FAQ

http://creativecomputingweb.com/dbman/index.shtml/
Quote Reply
Re: [LoisC] Mod ??? -- from a DBMan Newbie!!! In reply to
Smile Thank you Lois.... I found it, and I'm overwhelmed. I will be busy getting all this going, I can tell!

This is great. The best I have ever found.
Lynette
Hollister, Ca