New Task

[Mark Nibert]

I have asked a couple of questions on this site and before I always wanted someone to help me write something. Today I am going to try and learn more java and I am starting over. This Master's program has had me all over the place and I just havent been able to sit down and focus. Someone wants me to write an application for them. It is an application that is going to help a local boy scouts group track their library of books. So it will need to have a basic gui that connects to a database of books and allows for the librarian to check books in and out and also associate the name, date etc w/ the person who checked the book out.

I am not good at all with creating GUI's in Java and I am not sure how to really connect to a database. I want it to be all inclusive in the program so they do not have to install SQL or anything like that. I am just looking for some guidance on a book to get and/or the technology or what not to use to develop the application.

thanks ahead of time

Mark

EDIT: I have access to almost any book from Safari or O'Reilly. I am just not sure what type of application to develop to have a nice gui that pulls from a database. I just need to figure it out. I just don't know what words to use or what to search for in a good book on this.

[Tim McGuire]

I am not sure how to really connect to a database

I would start with this problem.

I want it to be all inclusive in the program so they do not have to install SQL or anything like that.

So, you should search on embedded java databases.

Do that, choose one, and then write us back for help with connection.

[jishnu dasgupta]

Hey Tim,

I am also designing and application on the same lines, and probably the embeded datbase sounds a gooddesign feature that can be implemneted. Could you give some heads up on the same. I have gone through all your links, but want a personal opinion!!!

[Luigi Plinge]

I would start with Google and enter "freeware library book software", click the top link, and away you go. There's no need to waste your time re-inventing the wheel with a much worse version (given that you're a novice), and impose the results on other people.

Focus your efforts on learning to program with a book like Head First Java. Code a few practice GUIs, try JavaRanch's Cattle Drive, get some practice at Project Euler, TopCoder, Codebat etc. After that you could try writing a clone of some existing software, which would be very instructive. But you're over-stretching yourself trying to design and code a new library app from scratch at this stage.

[Campbell Ritchie]

If you want a book database, I would suggest you start with the Java™ Tutorials section about databases.

[Mark Nibert]

I am doing this to not only help learn Java but to also help someone out here at work. I would prefer to not download freeware as that does not help me learn.

I will use the Derby database as that is something we are going over in my Java EE class for Distributed Systems. I picked up Dietel's How to Program java 8th edition from the library and also Beginning Swing so that should help.

[Jesper de Jong]

Derby is a good choice - it's a small and easy to use database that is very well suited for embedding (i.e., having everything in one package without the need to install and start up a separate database server).

[Mark Nibert]

Ok cool, it will be a very small database anyway so I don't need anything big at all. I have mapped out my tables and what not. I can't really do too much of the coding here at work but this How to Program: Java book goes through an example similar to what I want to do so I am just going to work through it and try to customize it and understand what is going on. I think this will be a great learning tool for me to understand how it all works. I may slowly add to it to see what I can come up with down the road.

[Jared Malcolm]

This is just a personal opinion, but I'd recommend Netbeans for building the gui (unless your just wanting to learn to build the gui). It's a simple drag and drop system and allows you to focus on the backend logic. Will still require you to understand HOW the gui works, but not the intricacies of HOW to setup the gui. Again, this all goes back to how much of GUI design/coding you want to learn.

When I was in my Java class I used this simply because for my instructor it was much less how to build a gui and more how to work with the information (we used derby as well).

[Mark Nibert]

I just ran across the NetBeans GUI builder. I know that I used that quite a bit in my C# class a long time ago so this may be a better route. Thanks for the heads up on that one.

[Campbell Ritchie]

If you want to understand how the display works, however, you won't learn that from a GUI builder.

[Mark Nibert]

Sorry for the delay, thanks for all of the help on this one. I got stuck on a project for class. I figure that I wont learn how to build a GUI from scratch using Netbeans but I am going to try the GUI builder for this project to learn some more Java before I dive in to Swing and how it works. I am also not sure how practical it is to learn swing right now. I use to program a bit during my undergrad and I am just out of the loop. I am reading through the Deitel and Deitel How to Program java to get myself familiar with programming again.