Best Methods in Database Integration..Newbie ? 1

[Mezzzo]

I started a new thread but this question was posted as
a follow-up to thread102-737639

Thanks for the information. I`m wondering if the techniques you mentioned would be recommended for the app that I`m attempting. The app is a drawer cutlist program.
The user enters the size of the cabinet opening then many functions are applied to various dbedits. The part calculations for a type of drawer are listed 3 to 6 rows in a grid at a time. The user then enters a new opening and the grid is populated again under the previous data. I had a programmer help with a similar app in Visual basic and he used sql to open and close data from a MSAccess. This was a complete app that didn`t use any bound controls. I`m a beginner at this but it seems that it might be easier to use unbound controls. This would eliminate the use of byfield etc. I`d appreciate your thoughts. To this novice the database implementation seems to be the most confusing part of programming
I appreciated your comprehensive help on my first question.
I hope to hear from the experts ...Thanks for your time!

 

[towerbase]

Delphi is arguably the most productive tool for developing database applications. As with most worthwhile tools there is a learning curve and learning which components to use in any particular circumstance might be the hardest lesson to learn.

You say "many functions are applied to dbedits". You should avoid manipulating dbedits. Instead use the TField objects for the particular dataset.

None of my Delphi books refer to bound controls. Maybe it is a VB term? So I'm assuming that DBEdit and the like are bound controls.

I am somewhat confused by the description of your application but I would have thought that using bound controls is the easiest way of programming it. Bound controls provide all the routine code for transferring data between the screen and the database table. If you do it yourself then (a) you have more coding to do and (b) maintenance becomes much more difficult.

In fact, it is possible to create a useful database application using Delphi components without providing any coding at all - as shown by the Database Form Wizard.

You wrote "This would eliminate the use of byfield etc". I don't know what byfield is. Did you mean FieldByName? If so, I think the converse is true. Using bound controls is likely to eliminate/reduce the need to use the FieldByName property whilst if you are coding it yourself with unbound controls you are likely to have to use FieldByName or something similar.

My advice is to develop your application as far as you can using bound controls. When you get stuck, ask for assistance on this forum. Be as specific and as clear as possible when describing what the difficulty is. If you want someone to give you some code samples remember to show what you have produced already as this avoids the responder having to make all kinds of assumptions.

Hope this helps.

Andrew