Rapid Development Tools On The Move

Below is a piece about access to RDT's on the move, specifically iPhone compatibility. This is something I hadn't thought about when comparing the relative merits of Dabble DB, Zoho Creator and MS Access.

Which web-based databases have native client support for the iPhone by Jane Mccarty

This could really extend the range, functionality and remit of your Application. For instance it would allow users' to input data in the field allowing real-time update of your data. It could also be used to display information for the customer such as real-time quotes or data presentation.

The benefit of having these on small mobile platform would include lower hardware costs and quick deployment, especially over a bespoke hardware/software solution such as traditional data collection PDA's.

Another Article Evaluating More Generally MS Office v's Opensource and Cloud Options...

...but talks about the sort of things you should be considering when you are making application decisions:


Kiss Microsoft Office Goodbye: Three Alternatives to Office 2010 by Bill Snyder

Tool Evaluation

We’ve been asked to evaluate Zoho Creator, DabbleDb and Ms Access with respect to the following:

• Data model implementation
• Code generation
• Interface development
• Deployment

	Zoho Creator	DB Dabble	MS Access
Data Model			Strong Entity Relationship Management features
Code Generation	Deluge Scripting ‘WYSIWYG’	Very limited scripting available	Not available
Interface Development	Easy to create web based entry forms	Excellent  graphical outputs for Data   Easy to create web based entry forms	Easy to create forms and tables.
Deployment *based on 50 Users’	Based online. Anyone with an internet connection can access the application. Data stored online. Client may have privacy/security concerns. Low cost additional licenses’  - around £2 per User* Inability to share administration for a database without giving access to entire Zoho account	Based online. Anyone with an internet connection can access the application. Low cost additional licenses’  - around £6 per User* Data stored online. Client may have privacy/security concerns.	Can be used on any machine with MS Access on it. No Internet connection required. Large support network for both end user and developers. Data  is stored securely or locally within a company or clients’ network.

Other Points to Consider:

Long-term availability – Is the application going to available long-term.

An Example of this would be Cogheads. This was a ‘WYSIWYG’ database driven application service which started up in 2003, it was then bought by SAP in February 2009 and closed to the public in April 2009. SAP are currently using the technology internally.

Corporate Approval – In my work experience I have found that sometimes large companies can be hesitant about using online application for internal solutions and prefer the perceived security of longer established ‘off the shelf solutions’, e.g. MS Access.

This may be starting to change as large companies start to embrace the trend towards ‘cloud-computing’ and ‘thin-client’ technology. Smaller companies and clients would be more comfortable with cloud based IT services and would appreciate the minimal start-up costs and quick development times involved. 

Handy blog for this weeks task...

WebAppsAtWork by Jane McCarty

Building Table Relationships in MS Access 2007

Here