/wsr/ - Worksafe Requests » Thread #99223

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Anonymous Mon 11 Apr 2016 19:04:14 No.99223 View View Reply Original Report

So I'm more of an applications programmer and have almost no databasing experience except for that MS Access class I took one Spring.

My job (small gym chain) just hired me to create a client program that can read and write guest information on a web hosted database while locally manage stuff like tracking a guest's time so they could be charged hourly. They want all their locations to communicate with a central server located in HQ so all guest info could be kept on the host server and guests won't have to do shit like reregister at other locations.

I mean, before I got hired I figured I could use MS Access and write a VB app for the client systems. Fucking DONE, right? But these motherfuckers tell me TODAY they want it all done on Apple products. So a mac as a host, iPads as clients.

>pic related

How can I go about this? Should I start reading up on MySQL and Objective-C? Any of you have experience or know how to even begin starting a project like this? Should I just quit? lel

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 11 Apr 2016 19:30:38 No.99235 Report

Quoted By: >>99252

>>99223
>How can I go about this? Should I start reading up on MySQL and Objective-C?
You'll need to know SQL, and good relational database practices. You'll also need to learn HTML5 (which is really just JavaScript: The Next Generation) and a server-side web language (PHP is awful but widely supported, Java is awful but has a great toolchain and IDE, Ruby is awful but can be formally validated, Python/Pylons is awful but Python is nice, and node.js is awful but at least you'd only have to learn one new language).

The way you're going to deliver this is with a database in MySQL or PostgreSQL, a middle-layer in PHP (or your preferred yucky web language), exporting the operations you'll want to do as a collection of REST endpoints, and doing the UI as an HTML5 web clip.

Probably you should read up on the MVVC pattern, because that's what you'll be using. Don't violate layering: the HTML5 view is strictly presentation, the SQL model is strictly representation, and the PHP viewcontroller is strictly business logic.

iOS can save webclips to the desktop, and they behave like native apps. Kinda-shitty native apps, but native apps nonetheless. The key difference is that the UI is a bit slower (like Facebook when you're in Safari and not the app), and they can't multitask: if they hit the background, even briefly, iOS kills them. Neither of these issues are a problem for what you're doing.

An additional bonus of using webclips is that you can deliver the same codebase to Apple, Android and desktop, and updates roll out immediately and automatically.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 11 Apr 2016 19:37:40 No.99240 Report

Quoted By: >>99258

>>99223
>So a mac as a host
I don't use OSX, but this looks like it would make your life easier: https://github.com/dgraziotin/osx-docker-lamp

For production you should probably use a more official source of Apache, PHP, MySQL, but this image should get you up and coding in ten minutes or so.

Personally I don't see the need for the mac at all: just get a bargain-basement hosting package, a let's-encrypt certificate, and run the whole damn thing from the cloud.

Bonuses:
- no mac needing care and feeding
- application stack kept up-to-date by competent ISP people
- admins can administrate the app from anywhere, even on their cellphones
- higher availability due to dedicated staff looking after the servers

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 11 Apr 2016 20:02:03 No.99252 Report

Quoted By:

>>99235
I love you, anon.

I never even considered handling it exclusively through HTML5 and PHP/Python/Ruby.

I have some concerns though... one of the tasks their client systems handle is POS for shit like waterbottles, yoga mats, etc as well as printing reciepts, generating reports and spreadsheets. Would this still be an effective system, you think? Or should I bite the bullet and just code a native app?

VB, VBA, MS Access, and Excel would have been fucking perfect for a project like this. Fuck apple, holy fuck.

Anonymous

Anonymous Mon 11 Apr 2016 20:21:10 No.99258 Report

Quoted By:

>>99240
I think their insistence on a mac-host is mostly a leftover token from their soon-to-be-replaced system. The guy that's acting as their IT guy (the guy that wrote their current system died back in '05) kept telling me he wanted the PC in the office to host the DB—but in the end I don't think it matters either. If I tell him I'm putting it all on the cloud, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mind as long as the system works.

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