I asked him why he mentioned MS Access specifically just to be able to store and capture data.

He said that Access was what he learnt in school and it’s the only software he knows that can help him manage large number of records.

For many, MS Access and Excel seem to be the only software that comes to their mind when there’s a need for data management and number crunching.

Today with the emergence of software as a service (SaaS) and platform as a service (PaaS), many are beginning to move towards cloud computing which provides:

• More flexibility
• Easy access via the web
• Operating expenditure + lower in cost
• Free from software and infrastructure maintenance
• and more…

I also found out that he needed the database to be accessible via the web by his team members who are at various client sites most of the time. Another problem is that half of his team members are on MACs and it looks like even the latest Microsoft Office for Mac doesn’t have Access in it. Obviously MS Access may not be the right tool for his team just yet.

Because of this, I recommended him to check out ZOHO Creator – a simple online database builder.

Zoho has been around for quite a number of years and Zoho Creator is one of their 22 online applications that ranges from CRM to Office Suite, Invoicing, Project Management and more.

While most of Zoho’s applications are already built based on certain key business functions such as CRM and Project Management, Zoho Creator allows organizations to create apps which aren’t already built.

For example, an organization may have a policy which require guests to register their details at the front desk before the person can be allowed into the office area.

Rather than asking the guest to write down the details on a piece of paper, a simple guest registration online form can be created using Zoho Creator.

Zoho Creator is not just a plain database which helps you store data. It’s able to do a lot more such as:

• Reporting tools
• Alerts and notifications
• Customizable user interface
• API: Rest, XML, CSV, JSON
• Ability to apply business logic
• Drag and drop form table builder
• Ability to export data to spreadsheet, pdf, html and more
• Ability to collect data via html, email and even website embed

I gave Zoho Creator a try and was impressed by it’s intuitive user interface as well as it’s fast loading time, which is very important because you’re actually doing development work on it.

The experience needs to be able to match the speed as if you’re developing from a desktop application. Zoho Creator loads up fast enough.

From the screenshot above, you can choose to create an application:

• From scratch
• By importing from MDB
• By importing from XLS, CSV
• Browse gallery (allows you to install pre built apps)

There are also many form templates to chose from saving us even more time.

Adding fields into a form is simple. Just chose from any of the 21 types of fields and drag it into the form on the right.

When you’re done designing the form, simply click on the “Access this application” tab and you’ll be directed to a page which shows you the actual form.

Entering some data and clicking on the submit button will save the data into the database.

Isn’t it simple? You don’t even need to spend time creating tables, specify field types and setting primary keys, etc. Drag and drop and you’re done.

For those who need additional capabilities on their forms such as automatically summing up fields based on certain selections made can use the script builder to easily add business rules and streamline business processes.

The online scripting language which is integrated with Zoho Creator is known as Deluge or Data Enriched Language for the universal Grid Environment.

Basically anyone with some programming skills can pick up Deluge pretty quickly.

Overall I find Zoho Creator a stable, dependable and reliable platform as a service (PaaS).

The thing that can make Zoho Creator even better is video based tutorials for beginners to learn step by step on how they can create their very first online application using the tool.

Please note that there are so many more Zoho Creator features that I may have missed mentioning. For more details and info about this simple online database builder, do check out Zoho Creator today.

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The original post is published here: ZOHO Creator – a simple online database builder

A good SQL editor is usually required to run sql queries for all sorts of functions such as adding and editing data, adding and dropping tables, etc.

Each database usually has it’s own set of client based SQL editor tool which allows a client machine to connect to the database server to perform database administration work.

All you need in order to log into the database is the correct credentials (username and password).

Sometimes, the client tool for the database may not be available and you need the ability to quickly access the database to check some table records.

If this is the case then here is a list of free or open source SQL editor tools for you to begin running SQL queries against your DB.

AnySQL Maestro is a unique tool for administering database engine which are accessible via ODBC driver or OLE DB provider.

The reason why I placed this as the first is because of its vast support for many types of databases such as SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, MS Access, Sybase, DB2, PostgreSQL, etc.

If you’re a programmer needing to connect to several types of databases, then this tool will come in very handy for you.

Toad has been around for quite some time and its database management tools are comprehensive, advanced and reliable.

If you’re in need for support and have questions related to the tools as well as database related queries, the Toad community is where you can get lots of help, resources and videos.

Toad has got specific apps for Oracle, DB2, MySQL, SQL Server, etc. It’s other freewares include a data modeler, extension for visual studio, benchmark factory and more.

PHPMyAdmin is one of my favorite SQL editor simply because I use it a lot.

Since this website is on WordPress and MySQL, I use PHPMyAdmin extensively to manage my database from checking table records to deleting unwanted data.

If your database is on MySQL, then look no where else. PhpMyAdmin is the best database administration tool for you provided you’re also into PHP.

Oracle SQL Developer is a free and fully supported graphical tool for Oracle database development and connects to Oracle version 10g and up.

There are versions for Windows, Linux and Mac OSX.

With this tool, you can browse database objects, edit and debug PL/SQL statements, run reports and more. Another strong feature includes ability to migrate 3rd party databases to Oracle.

SQuirreL SQL is a universal SQL Client capable of data browsing in tables, issuing SQL commands and more.

The SQL editor is a graphical Java program which allows you to connect to JDBC compliant databases.

Some new enhancements for its latest release includes using RText as the default editor instead of the classic Netbeans editor, new plugin for Netezza database and more.

WinSQL is a universal database management tool for heterogeneous environment.

WinSQL users generally use the tool to perform database administrative tasks such as importing and exporting data, generating test data, reverse engineer existing databases and more.

Check out the top 10 reason why you should use WinSQL.

SQLpal is usually treated as an alternative to SQL*Plus for connection to Oracle via JDBC.

With SQLpal, you wont need to have the Oracle client installation file and thus can be placed on USB thumbdrives for easy access and connection to Oracle.

The download file is only 9MB in size and is available for Windows only.

DBVisualizer is a universal database tool which works on all major operating systems including for Mac OS.

Some key functions include database object management, table data management, SQL tools and DB server management.

At the moment DbVisualizer comes in two flavors: Personal edition and Free edition. This feature list shows the difference between both version.

————— End of list of free or open source SQL editor tools —————-

There you go! 8 free or open source SQL editor tools for all your Database SQL management purposes. Enjoy!

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The original post is published here: List of free or open source SQL editor tools

A common question that CTO and IT managers usually ask is, should we build or buy? Image by AppGini Templates.

If we buy, we get a working system much faster but the cost may be quite high especially when we need to purchase licenses, hardware and pay for consulting fees.

If we build, the process to get the system up and running usually takes longer as it requires more time to plan, code, test and deploy. However, the system can be developed to be very detailed and unique. Organization who build their own systems give themselves a competitive advantage over their competitors without such systems.

Today’s post will be about a tool called AppGini which helps IT folks develop PHP web applications easily by just defining a MySQL database structure. Once a database structure has been defined, creating a web application is as simple as clicking on the Generate PHP Code button.

Sometimes when I’m doing programming and feeling the pain of coding in the middle of the night, I just wished that there’s a Generate PHP Code button for me to just click and head straight to bed. However, this button only exist in AppGini as well as in my dream!

Before I proceed to go in detail what AppGini can help us do, check out this simple visitor management system that I’ve created using AppGini. All done in within 10 minutes. See the screenshot below.

The app above is a simple visitor management system which allows visitors to enter their name, social security number and the datetime they check in to visit. Looking at the screenshot, I think I should have also added in the check out time so that the records look more complete.

In case you’re wondering what I did in order come out with the system above, these are the steps:

1. Launched AppGini
2. Added a new table and added the fields (for e.g, Name, SSN, etc)
3. Clicked on Generate PHP codes
4. Copied the generated PHP codes into my XAMPP htdocs folder
5. Ran the system from a browser
6. Entered MySQL admin details to create the database
7. Renamed administrator password
8. Created a group

Well, that’s about all the steps I ran to create a simple PHP web application with AppGini.

Some of AppGini’s other features includes:

• Automatic PHP code generation
• Easily search the entered records
• Easily export data to .csv format
• Easily sort data by column ascending or descending
• Admin interface to manage users, permissions and data
• Create multi users with different access rights, for eg. to add, edit, delete can be 3 different users

I personally think that AppGini is a great tool to get a simple system up and running really quickly. Since the codes are automatically generated for you in less than a minute, you can easily add in more codes of your own to enhance the system capabilities and to make it look nicer. Oh ya, there are also additional AppGini Themes which you can download and use if you’re not happy with the default colors.

To find out more about AppGini, I’d suggest you to look through AppGini’s Website and Video Tours. Enjoy!

The original post is published here: Create a PHP web app based on MySQL database structure

I could just pop in the Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 cd and install Access but the cd was not with me at that time.

I needed to be able to view the content of the .mdb and .accdb file the soonest possible so that work can be started immediately.

To do that I searched the web for applications which could help launch the Access file without having MS Access installed.

One such software is called MDB Viewer Plus – a freeware viewer and editor for Microsoft Access file. This app is basically a free, quick and easy way for one to view, edit, sort and search MDB / ACCDB file without having Access installed.

Some key features of MDB Viewer Plus includes:

• Search
• Inline table viewing
• Filtering and sorting fields
• Run queries
• Renaming and deleting tables
• etc.

I installed MDB Viewer Plus (2.6MB), and immediately launched the Access file.

Indeed, I could view all the defined tables and columns together with its data. However, the user interface for the forms were not there – a limitation of MDB Viewer Plus.

So if you are required to make some changes onto the forms or even macros within the Access database, don’t bother downloading and installing MDB Viewer Plus.

But if all you need is to look at what sort of data is in the database as well as its column and tables, then this freeware application allows you to view the content of .MDB and .ACCDB files without having Access installed.

See below for a sample screenshot on MDB Viewer Plus.

For more details on how to use MDB Viewer Plus to open mdb or accdb files without Access installed, head on over to  Alex Nolan’s site.

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The original post is published here: How to open mdb or accdb files without Access installed

So I launched phpmyadmin, the tool to manage MySQL tables and databases.

Looking through the list of tables in the database, one of the tables seemed to have corrupted and malfunctioned. This must be the reason why the plugin is not working. Photo by Zach Klien

So I thought, maybe I’ll just delete the table and reactivate the plugin. This trick should give me a new table altogether.

I proceeded to delete the table without thinking twice. Anyway, it’s 1 am in the morning, why bother thinking and double checking. So I checked the table which I wanted to delete, then clicked on the DROP button. When the dialog box pops up, without reading I just clicked on the OK button.

BAM! WHAM! DAM!

Looking through my list of database on the left side bar, I realized thatmy entire database is GONE. I have just done the unthinkable. I just dropped the entire database instead of deleting just one table which was what I had in mind. Best part, I haven’t done any backups to the database. Ouch!

Immediately, I kinda woke up. It’s like I was being controlled by something else and didn’t know what I was doing. No use crying over spilled milk now. My few days of work just went down the drain and thoughts of having to redo and repeat the entire process all over again made me feel sick and bored.

Then i thought, maybe there is a way to undo the drop database command in phpmyadmin. There must be a way out for DODOs like me.

Searching through Google, I actually found NOTHING! Yea… you read me right. No solution to this mistake.

But if any of you readers out there do know of a way to undo the drop database command, please let us know. Even if there are any third party tools capable of undoing and recovering the database, it would be really helpful.

Googling further, someone actually recommended that we try to contact our web host about this. If they are really good and reliable, they would have done daily backups and be able to restore it for us without any cost.

So I headed over to my web hosting site (WESTHOST) where they have a 24 hours technical support.

Chatting online with Westhost’s technical support staff, I mentioned to him about my dropped database. He asked for a few verification questions. Once I answered him and told him which database was dropped, within 2 minutes my database was restored up to yesterday nights version.

Phew! What a relieve. Nothing was lost, except for a couple of updates I did a few hours ago. I learned a few lessons:

• Always backup whenever possible
• Never to mess with files and databases in the middle of the night
• It’s important to host my files and databases with a reliable web host such as Westhost

Good job Westhost! To anyone encountering the same problem and your database is not backed up in anyway, the only thing I can say is… I FEEL your PAIN.

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The original post is published here: Is there a way to undo the drop database command in phpmyadmin?