creating a basic database

Question

Right now, in my internship, I'm assigned to create a system that holds employee information such as personal info, education, salary, etc.

All these stuff is kept in a few spreadsheets right now. I need a basic program, but I feel like I should be using MySQL or another database solution to hold the data. I used MySQL before, but it was a PHP/MySQL assignment which I used Wampserver to create the whole system.

Edit: The system will be used by a few computers across the network. When someone makes a change to the system, it will become visible to other computers aswell. (obviously) (Before the edit, I thought that it's gonna be used by a single computer.)

I'm confused right now. Should I create a PHP/MySQL webpage with wampserver (or similar) to hold the information, or not?

Would it be easier or better to combine MySQL with some other programming language (such as Java/C++) and build a GUI? (I doubt it)

Should I come up with a different solution? Without database usage?

Answer 1

Database usage would be the best option. In the end it will come down to what you are more comfortable using, Java/C++ or php, for what you want to do either can work, but remember the database will need to be live at all times and using wamp server wont cut it. You need to learn how to tun a mysql server without wamp, which is easy(Google is awesome). And personally I would have used Java because Java is also easy to link with mysql, just google it a bit, and java doesn't need to run on a server so no wamp needed as you would have needed for php.

EDIT:

Ok if I understand you correctly what you want to do is the following: 1. Identify a pc to be used as a server and assign it a static IP. 2. This must also be the pc that is turned on first every day and turned of last. 3. Create a front end client application that connects to your sql server that you will be running on the server machine.

Now I am assuming this network is rather small, so you wont need a specific computer to just act as server. The server can also be one of the client machines.

The best approach would be to create a mysql server and make sure the firewall is not blocking your sql server. Then create a client application that can access the database over the network using Java, I find this easier than creating a php server for the users because of port forwarding for an apache server is time consuming, I did it once and never again. Java will be easiest to make the application work over the network. Use Netbeans for the development, it's an awesome IDE and it makes life easier when setting up the database connection.

If you have anymore questions please ask in comment, and I will elaborate, since this might be a bit vague lol.

Answer 2

Your solution should use a database to store the data and an front-end application to manage the data.

The database and front-end should be seen as two separate layers. In other words create the database using whatever database your are familiar with eg: MySQL and likewise create the front-end using whatever technology youre familiar with eg: PHP.

Personally for this type of requirement i would typically use MySQL / SQLExpress and ASP.Net / MVC3 front-end.

Hope this is helpful.

Answer 3

Of course you should use a database for this type of work. That is the best way to organize, search, sort and filter your data without having to reinvent the wheel.

As to the other questions, the choice of language and environment is up to you to decide after evaluating the needs of your application.