Wanted - application to enter data into a database using a 'grid view'

[Craig White]

On Wed, 2012-01-18 at 10:49 +0000, Chris Green wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 17, 2012 at 06:04:17PM -0700, Craig White wrote:
> > On Tue, 2012-01-17 at 13:37 +0000, Chris Green wrote:
> > > One would have thought this would be the usual way to enter data into a
> > > database, especially when starting a project, but I can't find
> > > *anything* that allows me to do this remotely efficiently.
> > > 
> > > All I want is a simple data entry grid/matrix that shows me the data in
> > > the columns and rows of a table and allows me to edit existing data or
> > > add new data to an empty row at the bottom.  I want to be able to simply
> > > TAB along the row, having to click on each field and then enter the data
> > > spoils the simplicity.
> > > 
> > > I have to say that MS Access seems to have got this right, if you simply
> > > view an Access table it appears in exactly the format I want by default.
> > > 
> > > I'd prefer this for sqlite3 but mySql or even postgresql would be OK.
> > > 
> > > Any suggestions anyone?
> > > 
> > > I've investigated most of the database *management* programs such as
> > > sqlitebrowser and sqliteman (and similar for mySql) but they concentrate
> > > on database administration and creating SQL queries, they really aren't
> > > very good at simply entering data.
> > > 
> > > There's kexi and knoda but firstly they're both KDE based and I don't
> > > really want to pull in all of KDE just to run them and I'm not sure
> > > they'll do what I want anyway.  When I tried kexi just recently it
> > > firstly didn't know about sqlite and secondly crashed when I tried to
> > > use it on another database.
> > ----
> > you can use 'Base' from LibreOffice (OpenOffice) - it's the database
> > module and it's somewhat similar to Access. That said, you can probably
> > use the spreadsheet program too if you tie it to a specific table on a
> > database.
> > 
> > I have only used Base with postgresql but it shouldn't be a problem with
> > either mysql or sqlite and I think there is a built-in database that you
> > can use instead if you want.
> > 
> While this satisfies some of my requirements it's much too heavyweight
> an application really.  Firstly, even on my modern fairly fast desktop
> it takes several seconds to load, then one is presented with a complex
> GUI with loads of menus etc.  I want to be able to get directly into the
> data entry mode, reasonably quickly, e.g. I want to be able to say:-
> 
>     myProgram <databaseName> <tableName>
> 
> ... and be presented with the table in rows and columns ready to be
> edited.  Actually this is something that even MS Access (which ticks
> most of the other boxes) can't do, it's in the same sort of place as
> LibreOffice. 
----
you can create 'views' with OOo/LO 'Base' program
----
> 
> Spreadsheets sort of work except that they don't tend to present you
> with *only* the rows and columns you want and, again, have acres of
> menus and other stuff that I don't want.  The defaults date entry modes
> are all wrong too, for example I want columns to grow to fit data
> entered not do that horrible sort of overlapping thing that spreadsheets
> do.  OK, it can all be changed to some extent but it really feels as if
> one is using something not designed for the job.
> 
> I'm getting closest to what I want using Dabo to build my application
> using their AppWizard, at least that gets quite a lot of the way to
> where I want to be "out of the box".
----
sounds like you are fussy enough to justify the extra time it takes to
create an application from scratch and while I would personally use a
spreadsheet, set the formatting up beforehand (column widths, date
formatting, column headers, row headers and 'freeze' the panes) and be
done with it or just create a ruby on rails application if the project
justified it.

Craig 


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