Back in the mid-'90s we used a suite called "HyperScript Tools" to build
a X11 front-end in order to query, update and insert into an Informix
database. This allowed us to drag-n-drop control mechanisms such as text
fields, buttons, scroll bars, pull-down menus etc. and attach ANSI SQL
statement to the controls to get the desired functionality. SELECT
statements based on wildcard entries into selected text fields in the
finished form would populate the various controls with meaningful
information, making it easy to enter new information into the database
tables, and especially to query over 20 years of historical information
in a user-intuitive way.

Is there such a WYSIWYG thing that will allow us to create such forms to
communicate with a mysql server? Ideally it would create HTML forms
hosted by an Apache web server that resemble the paperwork we are using,
such that we could enter the new information, press an "insert" button
and have it entered into the database tables, or enter minimal search
criteria into the fields such as a name and date range, press the
"search" button and have the query results returned to the appropriate
fields in the form, etc.

We assume that once the HTML form is constructed using the WYSIWYG
editor, manual editing of the PHP code attached to the controls on the
form will be necessary, of course.

We are using phpmyadmin in order to manipulate the databases themselves,
but we need a forms builder to manage the user-interface so that the
clerical staff can work effectively with HTML forms that closely resemble
the paperwork that they're used to; it will also make it easy to print
the HTML page when hardcopy is needed for any reason.

Thank you for any suggestions that you may have. I'm sure we're not the
only ones who have a need for such tools, and that they must already
exist "out there" somewhere, such as sourceforge.net.

Greg Russell wrote:
way.
>
> Is there such a WYSIWYG thing that will allow us to create such forms to
> communicate with a mysql server?

You can keep track of successive posts to iteratively build up and
tentatively display a query statement, and then "submit" the finished
query it when it looks right. You would need a form with multiple,
carefully-named submit buttons to do that.

Keep three buffers to append to:
1) chosen column names
2) table names mapped to from a data structure, as determined
by the chosen column names. A hash eliminates duplicate
table names.
3) query conditions.

Each added condition would look like: ", and x > y "
Figuring out foreign-key requirements
in the general case (so it works for any arbitrary schema) is
almost impossibly difficult.

But if you roll a few kludges into the query constructor--based on
advance knowledge of your own custom designed schema--it isn't
hard at all.

$query = "select " . $columnnames . " from " . $tablenames . " where "
.. $conditions;

Now use a regular expression to strip out the first ", and" after the
"where" in the query, and then send it.


--
cut the board three times and it's still too short

On 6 Sep 2008 18:01:53 GMT, Greg Russell <me@privacy.net> wrote:

>Back in the mid-'90s we used a suite called "HyperScript Tools" to build
>a X11 front-end in order to query, update and insert into an Informix
>database. This allowed us to drag-n-drop control mechanisms such as text
>fields, buttons, scroll bars, pull-down menus etc. and attach ANSI SQL
>statement to the controls to get the desired functionality. SELECT
>statements based on wildcard entries into selected text fields in the
>finished form would populate the various controls with meaningful
>information, making it easy to enter new information into the database
>tables, and especially to query over 20 years of historical information
>in a user-intuitive way.
>
I use NetObjects Fusion for that, but I'm sure it's not the only one.

--
gburnore at DataBasix dot Com
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On 6 Sep, 19:01, Greg Russell <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
> Back in the mid-'90s we used a suite called "HyperScript Tools" to build
> a X11 front-end in order to query, update and insert into an Informix
> database. This allowed us to drag-n-drop control mechanisms such as text
> fields, buttons, scroll bars, pull-down menus etc. and attach ANSI SQL
> statement to the controls to get the desired functionality. SELECT
> statements based on wildcard entries into selected text fields in the
> finished form would populate the various controls with meaningful
> information, making it easy to enter new information into the database
> tables, and especially to query over 20 years of historical information
> in a user-intuitive way.
>
> Is there such a WYSIWYG thing that will allow us to create such forms to
> communicate with a mysql server? Ideally it would create HTML forms
> hosted by an Apache web server that resemble the paperwork we are using,
> such that we could enter the new information, press an "insert" button
> and have it entered into the database tables, or enter minimal search
> criteria into the fields such as a name and date range, press the
> "search" button and have the query results returned to the appropriate
> fields in the form, etc.
>
> We assume that once the HTML form is constructed using the WYSIWYG
> editor, manual editing of the PHP code attached to the controls on the
> form will be necessary, of course.
>
> We are using phpmyadmin in order to manipulate the databases themselves,
> but we need a forms builder to manage the user-interface so that the
> clerical staff can work effectively with HTML forms that closely resemble
> the paperwork that they're used to; it will also make it easy to print
> the HTML page when hardcopy is needed for any reason.
>
> Thank you for any suggestions that you may have. I'm sure we're not the
> only ones who have a need for such tools, and that they must already
> exist "out there" somewhere, such as sourceforge.net.

At the moment, no.

There are a couple of tools for building html/php UIs : Delphi for PHP
and PfP studio. Neither are particularly accomplished currently
(although if time allows I may get a new release of PfP together any
day now - the dev version is a lot sweeter).

There are a couple of scripts which will automatically generate an
HTML/PHP form from a MySQL table - phpgen, phpgem.

But do have a look at phplens and phpeanuts too.

C.

On Sat, 06 Sep 2008 13:06:16 -0600, sliverdigger wrote:

>> Is there such a WYSIWYG thing that will allow us to create such forms
>> to communicate with a mysql server?
>
> You can keep track of successive posts to iteratively build up and
> tentatively display a query statement, and then "submit" the finished
> query it when it looks right. You would need a form with multiple,
> carefully-named submit buttons to do that.

I obviously didn't express the need very well, as I can make little sense
of your reply. Thank you though.

On Sat, 06 Sep 2008 18:07:22 -0400, Gary L. Burnore wrote:

> On 6 Sep 2008 18:01:53 GMT, Greg Russell <me@privacy.net> wrote:
>
>>Back in the mid-'90s we used a suite called "HyperScript Tools" to build
>>a X11 front-end in order to query, update and insert into an Informix
>>database. This allowed us to drag-n-drop control mechanisms such as text
>>fields, buttons, scroll bars, pull-down menus etc. and attach ANSI SQL
>>statement to the controls to get the desired functionality. SELECT
>>statements based on wildcard entries into selected text fields in the
>>finished form would populate the various controls with meaningful
>>information, making it easy to enter new information into the database
>>tables, and especially to query over 20 years of historical information
>>in a user-intuitive way.
>>
> I use NetObjects Fusion for that, but I'm sure it's not the only one.

Thank you, but it looks like that's a for-purchase package, and we were
hoping for an OSS offering such as from sourceforge.net.

On Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:48:50 -0700, C. (http://symcbean.blogspot.com/)
wrote:

> There are a couple of tools for building html/php UIs : Delphi for PHP
> and PfP studio. Neither are particularly accomplished currently
> (although if time allows I may get a new release of PfP together any day
> now - the dev version is a lot sweeter).

Thank you, I suspect that PfP will meet my needs, but after downloading
it and following the instructions in the README.txt (such as include_path
= "." in /etc/php.ini and restarting httpd), I get:

Checking PHP version...this is 5.1.6....OK
Checking Operating System....OK
Checking include path....OK
Checking existing environment...OK
The next step is to configure environment

.... but I am unable to progress to the new_env.php link without errors:

Notice: Undefined variable: statuslog in /var/www/html/pfp/new_env.php on
line 15

Notice: Undefined offset: 0 in /var/www/html/pfp/form.inc.php on line 787

Notice: Undefined index: wizard__wizardAction in /var/www/html/pfp/
new_env.php on line 68

Notice: Undefined variable: stage in /var/www/html/pfp/new_env.php on
line 69

Notice: Undefined index: wizard__wizardStage in /var/www/html/pfp/
new_env.php on line 70
....

Any is appreciated, thanks.

Greg Russell wrote:
> On Mon, 08 Sep 2008 05:48:50 -0700, C. (http://symcbean.blogspot.com/)
> wrote:
>
>> There are a couple of tools for building html/php UIs : Delphi for PHP
>> and PfP studio. Neither are particularly accomplished currently
>> (although if time allows I may get a new release of PfP together any day
>> now - the dev version is a lot sweeter).
>
> Thank you, I suspect that PfP will meet my needs, but after downloading
> it and following the instructions in the README.txt (such as include_path
> = "." in /etc/php.ini and restarting httpd), I get:
>
> Checking PHP version...this is 5.1.6....OK
> Checking Operating System....OK
> Checking include path....OK
> Checking existing environment...OK
> The next step is to configure environment
>
> ... but I am unable to progress to the new_env.php link without errors:
>
> Notice: Undefined variable: statuslog in /var/www/html/pfp/new_env.php on
> line 15
>
> Notice: Undefined offset: 0 in /var/www/html/pfp/form.inc.php on line 787
>
> Notice: Undefined index: wizard__wizardAction in /var/www/html/pfp/
> new_env.php on line 68
>
> Notice: Undefined variable: stage in /var/www/html/pfp/new_env.php on
> line 69
>
> Notice: Undefined index: wizard__wizardStage in /var/www/html/pfp/
> new_env.php on line 70
> ...
>
> Any is appreciated, thanks.
>

Try the PfP support forums. They'd know better than anyone here - after
all, you have the developers there.

But also note that it is in beta, so some bugs are to be expected.

--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

On Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:38:53 -0400, Jerry Stuckle wrote:

> Try the PfP support forums. They'd know better than anyone here - after
> all, you have the developers there.

I was asking a question of the developer Colin, who responded to my
request for such software in these newsgroups.

Greg Russell wrote:
> On Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:38:53 -0400, Jerry Stuckle wrote:
>
>> Try the PfP support forums. They'd know better than anyone here - after
>> all, you have the developers there.
>
> I was asking a question of the developer Colin, who responded to my
> request for such software in these newsgroups.
>

It doesn't matter who you were asking a question of. My advice stands.

--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

On Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:45:53 -0400, Jerry Stuckle wrote:

>>> Try the PfP support forums. They'd know better than anyone here -
>>> after all, you have the developers there.
>>
>> I was asking a question of the developer Colin, who responded to my
>> request for such software in these newsgroups.
>>
>>
> It doesn't matter who you were asking a question of. My advice stands.

Sorry, but I can find no value in your "advice." The forums are lean
and it's been years since any input to them, and the developer was
responding to me here until you interrupted. Thanks for trying to
though.

Greg Russell wrote:
> On Tue, 09 Sep 2008 05:45:53 -0400, Jerry Stuckle wrote:
>
>>>> Try the PfP support forums. They'd know better than anyone here -
>>>> after all, you have the developers there.
>>> I was asking a question of the developer Colin, who responded to my
>>> request for such software in these newsgroups.
>>>
>>>
>> It doesn't matter who you were asking a question of. My advice stands.
>
> Sorry, but I can find no value in your "advice." The forums are lean
> and it's been years since any input to them, and the developer was
> responding to me here until you interrupted. Thanks for trying to
> though.
>
>

It doesn't make any difference about how active or inactive those forums
are. No one knows the product better than the developer(s) of that product.

And your question is neither a PHP question nor a MySQL question, so it
is off topic in both newsgroups. But I was going to be nice and not
mention that, at least until you started arguing.

--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

Greg Russell wrote:
> On Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:38:53 -0400, Jerry Stuckle wrote:
>
>> Try the PfP support forums. They'd know better than anyone here - after
>> all, you have the developers there.
>
> I was asking a question of the developer Colin, who responded to my
> request for such software in these newsgroups.
It would probably be best to take your conversation to E-Mail then
instead of in the improper NG. IMHO.

Scotty

On Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:18:29 -0400, Jerry Stuckle wrote:

> And your question is neither a PHP question nor a MySQL question, so it
> is off topic in both newsgroups. But I was going to be nice and not
> mention that, at least until you started arguing.

I see others have killfiled you for your obnoxiousness.

Greg Russell wrote:
> On Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:18:29 -0400, Jerry Stuckle wrote:
>
>> And your question is neither a PHP question nor a MySQL question, so it
>> is off topic in both newsgroups. But I was going to be nice and not
>> mention that, at least until you started arguing.
>
> I see others have killfiled you for your obnoxiousness.
>
>

And I see you are completely clueless.

--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

Jerry Stuckle:
> Greg Russell wrote:
>> On Tue, 09 Sep 2008 06:18:29 -0400, Jerry Stuckle wrote:
>>
>>> [...] But I was going to be nice and not
>>> mention that, at least until you started arguing.
>>
>> I see others have killfiled you for your obnoxiousness.
>>
> And I see you are completely clueless.

Let's see:
- coke......check!
- popcorn...check!

All set, then. Please, carry on!

--
Erick