Hello All

Hi, I was just wondering if anybody knew anything about databases? My boss asked me to build him a client/customer database and to be honest, I've got no clue. When I told him this, he responded with, "Well go learn." So, here I am lost. I have been tinkering with Microsoft access, Python, and pHpMyAdmin... but I don't really have any experience with any of them:confused... I was hired to design his websites, but he's asked me to take on the role of everything technology. Big shoes to fill, ya know?? Anyways, if anyone could help me I'd really appreciate it. If not I'll still be your friend!

 

I have only used Access as an alternative to a spreadsheet, so can't say for sure.
However, recently I looked at some info on Access as database, and it looks to me like a good choice. You may want to check out the free online tutorials for the applications you are interested in and see which looks the least complex, yet will still do what you want it to.
One of the single Best possible things to do first though are make totally sure exactly what kinds of data you want to enter, how you want it to look, how you want sort it,etc. This can be tough sometimes, but the more you know precisely what your boss wants, the better you will be at making a good choice.

 

Excel is a hell of a lot easier to learn than Access, IMO.

Check out

at
http://www.sputtr.com/google.html?c...5plllize&cof=FORID:10&q=learn+excel&sa=Search

Check out

at
http://www.sputtr.com/google.html?q...02133980112850404304:mz35plllize&cof=FORID:10

Bazza

 

When you/he say(s) "client/customer database", I am assuming that he means that he wants a record of all of your company's clients. The trouble is that he didn't seem to specify what he wanted it for or what sort of associated client information he wanted to track. If he just wants simple information tracked and he doesn't intend to do anything fancy with it, then Excel is fine. Any further expansion he would want done with it would then likely be in the form of VBA functions or macros, which while they can be powerful, they can also be very complex to learn, create, and then implement. Excel is not a database software, but again, if he's not looking for anything fancy or full-featured, then this is a fine solution for just keeping track of information.

I don't think that learning Python would be very helpful in this case. While you could use it to interact with some database formats, it isn't the easiest route to go.

Microsoft Access is an actual database solution. It offers ease-of-use in that it has a graphical interface that presents all or most of your options while creating a database and its components. It does come packed with a bunch of its own functions, but anything custom will probably have to be written as a separate VBA function or macro.

phpMyAdmin would be a good choice if he wants something that can be centrally located and administered from virtually any computer with a web browser. You could also build a web-frontend for it then, or a separate application to access and view/edit its contents. Of your options, it's more of a "custom build" choice which would probably require more preparation and setup work, but it would have more expansion options than the other solutions.

If I am sorely mistaken, anyone is free to tell me so. I'm sure that there are a bunch of you here with far more experience in database setup and administration than I have.