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Database Design and Web Application Development

What we can do for you

Database design and creation

There are two considerations when thinking about your data: getting it in and getting it out. One stores data only because one wants to use it again. Using it takes the form of generating reports. Reports can be of many kinds and for many purposes, e.g. a report can be an invoice, a list of clients owing money, a list of reps servicing a certain area or a list of clients with orders totalling so much between two dates.

However, meaningful reports are only possible if the database was correctly designed. That means tables designed to at least third normal form. Getting a database right is much more complicated than using a word processor. Many try to do it themselves only to later ask for help. By that stage they usually have data in their d.i.y. databases that need to be migrated to a correctly designed database, making the whole exercise so much more costly.

Data migration

For various reasons a business may want to migrate data from one database to another dissimilar database. The responsible business stakeholders should look with great care at the database that is to be used as the source for the migration. If this database was perfect there would be no case for migration. If it is to be migrated to another database with exactly the same structure (schema), perhaps a database allowing heavier use, migration is straight-forward. In most cases the new database has to address shortcomings in the old database. In this case the responsible persons should carefully consider which fields should be retained - in most cases the old database will have fields hardly ever used - and which new fields should be created.

Some of the migration can be done using plain SQL, but for some it will be neccessary to create software to read from the old database, manupilate the data, and then write it to the new database. Whatever the case, we can do it.

Data entry forms design and creation

Data entry operators need forms connecting to the database to enter the data. These can be html forms, like those found on web-pages, or proprietary forms, like those of Microsoft Access, or open source forms, like Knoda. Whatever the case, these are for data entry first and foremost and only in a very limited extent to look at data in the database.

Report design and generation

Reports are for looking at the data in your database. Mostly, they are laid out to be printed. Reports are not used for data input at all.

Web application design and creation

A database is indispensable for a website doing any of the following:

If you want a site that does things in addition to displaying static content - content not responsive to a user's input - you need a web-application. Web-applications are a big part of our work. Go to the web-application page and have a look around.

In web-applications, too, the database must be correctly designed. In addition, programming is needed to take requests from the web-pages to the database and display the response from the database back to the web-page. We use either Java or Ruby for this. Java is well known. The social networking site Twitter, is a Ruby on Rails application.

Online shops

An online shop is a web-application. One loads what one sells to it and get details of all one's sales from it. The buyers are taken to a secure site which processes their credit card details.

Training

We can provide training in any of the following:

Please see the training page for more details.

Database information

The following information may be relevant to your situation.

J2EE Development

Any database can be accessible over an intranet or the Internet. If the project is reasonably big or if heavy use is anticipated, we use Java 2 Enterprise Edition applications to access your database. If you already have Microsoft SQL Server we can use Access forms and reports to connect to your MS SQL Server via an Access Data Project.

The new EJB3 specification is out. Database Applications used JBoss to create and serve several EJB3 web applications. All except one of the sites under Some Recent Work are EJB3 applications. After a visit to the sites, can you guess which ones? One is a J2EE 2.1 application, still going strong, day after day, night after night. These sites just go on and on, some making their owners handsome amounts of money.

Technologies used

Database Applications uses mainly Open Source technologies. Look at the list of links on the left. Some of the big concerns that use the same Open Source technologies are NASA, Walmart, Google, Optus and many more. The savings can be astronomical.

MS Access

Many small and medium sized businesses use MS Access. MS Access is perfectly adequate in many cases. Database Applications can develop and implement your MS Access database. This includes database design, table and query creation, design and creation of forms (for data entry) and reports. Building applications with Access is usually fast.

MS SQL Server

Businesses may find that they have outgrown MS Access. One can use MS SQL Server for them, but keep MS Access as a front end. Staff will then find familiar Access forms for data entry and Access reports in a format they are used to. One can then use Transact SQL stored procedures, not available in a pure MS Access application, to extend the usefulness of the application.