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favorite GUIs besides Swing for db front end

 
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Hi -

Just curious if some of the database programmers would be interested in commenting on GUI's for db front ends. Swing is much maligned, but seems stable enough [Oracle can't deprecate something in the "core definition" of the Java language, right?] and rich enough to do the job (basically recreating an MS Access database application using Java as a front end for MySQL).

I know it is possible to run various scripting languages via Java libraries. Is Jython, or, another scripting language known to be well suited for GUI building? Any thoughts on the pros and cons of such an approach? I was intrigued by JavaFX, but it seems to have had its plugged pulled.

In the posts I've investigated here, folks are mentioning HTML & JSP front ends. That might be feasible as well, but the particular project I'm envisioning would run on a company network, so I figure I might as well take advantage of Swing rather than going through a browser.

I'm still investigating possibilities. Mostly, the Microsoft churn is causing headaches as Access gets more bloated and the new versions (2007, 2010) seem to run slower than good old 2003 Access, and there is understandable resistance to moving to a SQLServer backend.

Java running MySQL should be a lot speedier than MSAccess, I figure. Any disagreements on that estimation? I'll be able to do a lot to restrict the amount of information flowing over the network, whereas Access seems to want to send over entire tables when you only need a record.

I'm also curious if there is a JDBC for MSAccess available that doesn't cost in the neighborhood of $1000. I'm confused about whether and how the dual connection via ODBC would work. But I figure I can also write some export routines in VBA to create files for Java to load (listing MS Form and Report objects and properties) to be used in recreating the existing forms and reports.

I started studying Java about a year ago and SO MUCH prefer the Java environment to dealing with Microsoft. Way to go, Java Community! Would love to be able to pull this off and be free of MS.

Thanks for your thoughts. I hope this wasn't too general a question for the JDBC area, but I wanted to target the opinions of db programmers.

Phil Freihofner
 
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You could try Adobe AIR. JavaFX is also good and latest updates make it more promising.
 
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Just curious if some of the database programmers would be interested in commenting on GUI's for db front ends. Swing is much maligned, but seems stable enough [Oracle can't deprecate something in the "core definition" of the Java language, right?] and rich enough to do the job (basically recreating an MS Access database application using Java as a front end for MySQL).


Swing is fine. There are plenty Swing (or SWT) based database GUIs out there already.


Java running MySQL should be a lot speedier than MSAccess, I figure. Any disagreements on that estimation? I'll be able to do a lot to restrict the amount of information flowing over the network, whereas Access seems to want to send over entire tables when you only need a record.


Access is a very poor database. If your system is intended to have more than one user at a time I would not choose it. There are no good JDBC drivers for access that do not cost money, whereas pretty much every other database out there has good, freely available JDBC drivers. If this is not a commercial project and you are more comfortable with MS technologies, SQL Server express is freely available.
 
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mohamed sanaullah wrote:You could try Adobe AIR. JavaFX is also good and latest updates make it more promising.


I would caution against Flash if you intend to display large amounts of data. The List based controls in Flash generally have performance issues with bigger data sets. It is otherwise a perfectly good platform if you are showing smaller data sets: very quick to develop with, capable of creating a quite a rich GUI, easy to deploy.

I would caution against JavaFX too. Just my own hunch, but since Microsoft have canned Silverlight, I think there will be even less incentive for Oracle to do much with this technology.
 
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