Knoda is the one

Story: A review of the Glom graphical database front-endTotal Replies: 12
Author Content
jimf

Sep 10, 2006
5:45 PM EDT
Glom is very limited...

If you really want a front end that gives you the same functionality, and more, than Access, and, will handle 'all' the data formats (including mdb), knoda is the no contest choice. Do a synaptic name search under 'libhk-classes-' to see all the available drivers. For the life of me. I don't understand why KDE doesn't give knoda official default status.
Alcibiades

Sep 10, 2006
7:37 PM EDT
jimf - have you tried Bond? Or datakiosk? Bond looks quite interesting from the examples. Don't know how much work they were to do.

I tried Knoda on what might have been your recommendation here but didn't have much joy. It seems to miss all the little ease of use things that Filemaker has - the ability to do layouts for other users almost instantly, complete with buttons, by point and click. Yes, this comes at a price, do realise that. Kexi, at least the version I've been able to get to run, is not really close. OO Base may have more of this.

The suggestion that you can always write Python to get Glom to do what you want will be deeply discouraging to any end user! As will the list of things he had to do to get Glom to work.

dcparris

Sep 10, 2006
8:03 PM EDT
I am currently trying out Rekall. It's not only fairly functional, it still offers Python extensibility. I did have problems using the copier to import one of my CSV files into PostgreSQL, but at least it's better than OOBase for building queries. I had one horrible time trying to get OOBase to give me a query where the boolean value is set to true on the chosen column. I simply could not get a query to work with any criteria in the boolean column (query design mode).

I got the query working with Rekall in seconds. Incidentally, that resulted in a drastic change to the results I was seeing in my query. The importance of a properly working query for this particular project is extremely high.

I have posted my issues, including numerous crashes, to the OOdba users list - at least one of my crash reports resulted in an immediate bug fix. That's nice to know, but I think the DBA team have some work to do. I really like OOo, and used it to publish my book. I am just a bit disappointed by the crashes and query builder issues. Some of it probably just my lack of knowledge, but here we go with the whole novice user issue.
jimf

Sep 10, 2006
8:42 PM EDT
Don,

If you like Rekall, then you should love knoda. Much more flexable and reliable. You need to give it a try.

Alcibiades,

Yes, I know that knoda requires a little more effort than point and click, we're not talking about wiggets here, but then so does MS Access. Knoda does provide really nice forms, queries and reports, which most of the others won't without a lot of work. Because of the range of drivers, it can also be used for anything from an individual's desktop to very large office data access. I know that with Access, I was able to automate a small office. With knoda, the posibilities are endless.

You mentioned Bond & datakiosk...

datakiosk seems to be somewhat similar to glom, with the back end apparently mysql. As for Bond, I don't see any development going on at all and it's confined to postgresql. I don't see either of these as very good front end solutions.
jimf

Sep 10, 2006
11:54 PM EDT
I've been working with knoda tonight, and, (since everyone loves screenshots)here are a couple of forms. Remember that knoda is not just about creating pretty forms. It manages all the aspects of the database from the table creation and linking, field attributes, queries, and reports. This latest version also does blobs (that means pictures and such). If you can program in python, that's useful too.

http://linux.jimfarnsworth.com/common/knoda2.jpg http://linux.jimfarnsworth.com/common/knoda1.jpg
Alcibiades

Sep 11, 2006
3:05 AM EDT
Don, how did you do csv imports into rekall? Maybe its a silly question, but I couldn't figure it out. Or do you have to import into PostResSql and then link to that?
dcparris

Sep 11, 2006
5:43 AM EDT
Alcibiades: You should use the Copy feature.

Dbl-cLick the Create New Copier icon Click the File tab on the left side Check the box if your CSV file has a header row Choose the appropriate field delimeter, value "qualifier", and browse for the file On the right side you should see 2 drop-down boxes for you to choose the database and table, respectively Having chosen the table, your fields will show up in the left field box - move them to the right using the arrows

As I said previously, I got it to work just fine with one table, but not another. Once I imported the 2nd table into PG using the copy command at the psql prompt, Rekall sees the data just fine. If you do that, be sure to use the CSV keyword in the COPY command:

COPY table_name '/path/to/from/file.csv' CSV;

Don't mean to insult your intelligence, but I have found that the PG documentation is not nearly as well presented as MySQL's. And I don't get the help for Rekall, since I'm running Ubuntu, and the on-line help is meant for KDE.
dcparris

Sep 11, 2006
7:58 AM EDT
jimf: I have Knoda installed so I can compare it with Rekall. So now I have a question.

In query design mode, how do I set the query to retrieve the boolean value TRUE? When I set the criteria field to (=)%TRUE%, TRUE, 1 or whatever, it just doesn't seem to work. In Rekall, I just set the field to ='TRUE'.
jimf

Sep 11, 2006
8:57 AM EDT
Don, what database? You're using sqlite3 it's =TRUE, in postgresql it's a little different I think. My sql syntax is rusty as hell right now ;-).
dcparris

Sep 11, 2006
9:01 AM EDT
Sorry jim - I'm using postgresql. The Knoda documentation recommends using bool_field=%TRUE%. It just doesn't seem to work for me.
jimf

Sep 11, 2006
10:57 AM EDT
at the point you are entering it there, it should be a straight postgresql statement, so whatever postgre says it should be would be correct. Just what are you trying to do there? Yes-no statement or what?
dcparris

Sep 11, 2006
11:10 AM EDT
Never mind. I just got it to work.
jimf

Sep 11, 2006
11:16 AM EDT
:)

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