Re: Some advice need after a 20 year gap after Ingres/GUIs

Hi,

To start I had to find out what MDBS IV is, since it caught my attention
and I ended up learning a few things about the history of databases ;-).

Regarding your concern:

First you must be clear that there are many alternatives to develop
graphical interfaces to work with Postgres.

So, first of all:

* You must choose and master a programming language that you feel
comfortable with, Python is the one that most developers choose.
* Use a development environment suitable for the language you have
chosen, there are several, but the best known is possibly Visual
Studio Code.
* Choose which operating system you are going to develop with:
Windows, Linux, macOS, generally most people choose Windows since
you can integrate a Linux like Ubuntu using WSL.
* After you master your favorite programming language, you must select
a framework that allows you to generate a graphical interface, in
Python there are several such as Tkinter, wxPython or Qt among others.
* If the development is via the web, the options are many, the best
known in Python would be Django for the web and FastAPI for the
development of APIs via REST
* You must also have a library that allows you to connect with
Postgres, in Python there is pyODBC, psycopg2 among others.

Additional resources:

Python Tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWRfhZUzrAc&list=PLWKjhJtqVAbnqBxcdjVGgT3uVR10bzTEB
Python & Tkinter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQSEXcf6s2I&list=PLCC34OHNcOtoC6GglhF3ncJ5rLwQrLGnV
Python & Postgres: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miEFm1CyjfM

Greetings and luck!

El 10/04/2024 a las 06:11, John Bateson escribió:
>
> Good morning,
>
> The end of my working life was taken up with developing and supporting
> a Scientific Research establishment near Warrington in the UK. I had a
> small team of programmer who did an excellent job for me and with me.
>
> The software was Ingres and the main program supporting user
> administration on a Synchrotron was built  under OpenROAD with other
> developments around the on-site stores and finance  using ABF since
> the stores workers found this much faster than a GUI! There was also
> some web development use .Net practises.
>
> This was a quite complex system in the end with nearly 200 tables.
>
> We ended up using Ingres Replicator with the intention of running it
> from two sites 180 miles apart – at the time it was a pile of
> *notquitegoodenough*! This was early this century so Actian may have
> made some improvements since then…
>
> So much for the background to establish that I am not a complete
> newbie, just out of the loop for a while.
>
> *Using Postgres and PGAdmin -4*.
>
> So, 20 years later I am developing, (unpaid) a new project for some
> historic railways in the UK and linking these to the development and
> design of a range of kits for those interested in model railways. This
> is getting towards 20 tables so far.
>
> What I really need is a recommendation for the current and best
> practice for an easy GUI that will allow me to press a button without
> opening up PGAdmin or a black screen, i.e. the traditional .EXE file I
> can put on a button on the screen on the screen on a Windows 11 based
> system.
>
> While my programming history goes back to MDBS-4 and beyond I know I
> have some catching up to do and while not a complete newbie, need
> something I can work on quickly and intuitively and inexpensively!
>
> So, recommendation and possibly some consensus would be very much
> appreciated.
>
> And apologies if I have taken up too much of your time or have placed
> this in the wrong forum.
>
> John
>
--
Saludos,

Francisco Prado