Trail of Tears: MySQL, ODBC, & OpenOffice 1.0

Joe Barr writes " I found a wonderful "how-to" piece called "OpenOffice.org 1.0, ODBC and MySQL," by John McCreesh. In the introduction, McCreesh writes about OpenOffice.org 1.0's "best kept secret" -- that secret being the fact that hidden away inside, completely unknown to most OpenOffice users, is a user-friendly front end for databases that is "a Microsoft Access (and more) equivalent." That may be so, but there is a very good reason why it's a secret: it's too damn hard getting OpenOffice and ODBC wired up correctly."

Comments

Huh?

[BoomerSooner]

The "journalist" who wrote the article said his friend was having a hard time getting MySQL, OpenOffice and Linux (Suse) to work. He then lists that his friend can 1) network computers 2) make anything work in DOS and Windows and 3) simply installed the RPMs.

I'm not sure what the hell qualifies this guy to be able to do much of anything in Linux much less tie MySQL to OO via ODBC.

Re:Huh?

[Chazmyrr]

You're right. The guy hasn't paid his dues. He hasn't spent days poring over man pages. He hasn't spent hours trying to recompile his kernel to get it to recognize his NIC. He probably doesn't even know how to use xf86config.

Then again, maybe the point was you shouldn't have to be a wizard to get an office suite to talk to an odbc datasource. Maybe the point was that real people trying to do real work don't want to be a sysadmin. They just want to get their work done.

Secret?

[k98sven]

Yes, it may be unknown to most users, but that doesn't mean it's hidden any more than most features in Office.

Anyway, AFAIK a better (non-ODBC) MySQL driver for openoffice.org has been up there on their to-do list for quite some time.

So why not scratch that itch instead?

Re:Secret?

[Mr. Smoove]

It has been completed and is ready for inclusion in the next release of OOo (1.1) - the beta of which is due out towards the end of this month.

MySQL, ODBC, OpenOffice haikus

[Anonymous Coward]

Install MySQL?
Better get support contract
Config files scattered

ODBC's pow'r
Links data hither and yon
Like many silkworms

Free office software
Fighting forces from Redmond
Freedom is power

Relevant comments
Readers like them, yes they do
Thoughtful minds welcomed

Lame haikus you say?
OK bub, then write your own
Not so easy, huh?

Re:MySQL, ODBC, OpenOffice haikus

[Chocolate Teapot]

You are a troll
A shameless waste of bandwidth
Keep up the good work ;)

Re:MySQL, ODBC, OpenOffice haikus

[Chocolate Teapot]

Oh crap! I screwed up!
Moderators do your worst
Flame my sorry ass

Trail of Tears?

[mr100percent]

Hey, I wouldn't use "Trail of Tears" as the headline.

The Trail of Tears was the forced emigration of Native Americans from the South to Oaklahoma. It was brutal and painful, and something that Americans don't like to talk about.

"In one of the saddest episodes of our brief history, men, women, and children were taken from their land, herded into makeshift forts with minimal facilities and food, then forced to march a thousand miles(Some made part of the trip by boat in equally horrible conditions). Under the generally indifferent army commanders, human losses for the first groups of Cherokee removed were extremely high... About 4000 Cherokee died as a result of the removal. The route they traversed and the journey itself became known as "The Trail of Tears" or, as a direct translation from Cherokee, "The Trail Where They Cried" ("Nunna daul Tsuny"). "

Re:Trail of Tears?

[monadicIO]

I'm no troll, and have nothing against the native Americans, and have no intention of making light of their sufferings.
However, why does everyone have to be sensitive to everything that might offend anyone?
I find the political correctness thing is now as bad as censorship - there are no laws against saying things, but you'll be demonized for the rest of your life for having said them.
I'm sure one day some PC guy will come along and ask us not to use C because controllers written in C were used in some bomber aircrafts (or something like that).

Re:Trail of Tears?

[blaine]

Eh. On the one hand, yes, political correctness sucks.

On the other hand, comparing the configuration problems inherent to OpenOffice with the Trail of Tears is pretty obnoxious. I mean, what next, "Linux Networking: 9/11 All Over Again"?

I really don't think this is a case of being overly politically correct. It's more that the author of the article used an entirely inappropriate title, given the subject. Comparing computer configuration problems with the death of thousands is, well, shitty.

Re:Trail of Tears?

[feed_me_cereal]

However, why does everyone have to be sensitive to everything that might offend anyone?

I don't know about all situations, but some assholes sailing over to your country and making you march to your death doesn't seem that comparable to the hassle of setting up open-office. So why is mentioning the significance of the trail of tears a bad thing? At worst, someone gets educated.

I find the political correctness thing is now as bad as censorship

How is it any different from correcting or offering a dissenting opinion? People are allowed to voice their opinion about things, even about what speech they find offensive. By your logic, critique is censorship just because people will be afraid of being critiqued and therefore not speak. That's BS. You're responsible for the things you say, whether you like it or not.

I'm sure one day some PC guy will come along and ask us not to use C because controllers written in C were used in some bomber aircrafts (or something like that)

Well then that PC guy is a moron and we can all laugh at him (allong with any cowards who actually bend to his will). It's a far cry from pointing out a comparison between installing OSS and mass-murder. Don't oversimplyfy political correctness. You're just as bad as the "PC freaks" you malign.

Re:Trail of Tears?

[salesgeek]

Political Correctness is a problem - sometimes. But in this case, it is at a level higher than PC. Perhaps because we never again want to see another people go through what our people have been through.

To a Native American like myself, to compare a great human tradgedy to your problems with an incomplete piece software is insulting. It trivializes the death of much of my people and the death of our entire way of life and culture. It's just a bad analogy.

C is a tool. The person programming the bomber is a toolmaker. The pilot is alas a soldier following orders, the orders come from a government, and that government exists at the privelidge of the people it serves.

Re:Trail of Tears?

[Reality Master 101]

it's important to understand that offense is in the eye of the offended, not the offender.

NO NO NO!! Sorry to come off so strongly, but this is completely and TOTALLY wrong.

You cannot define offense by who is offended, because you can ALWAYS find someone who is offended by ANYTHING.

The rational point of view is looking at the intent of what someone is saying. I'm particularly reminded of someone who was fired for using the word "niggardly" in a staff meeting! A black person was offended, even though the word has absolutely nothing to do with the word "nigger", and the person was forced to resign. Is this really the world you want where the idiots who get offended decide who gets lynched (word used intentionally)?

Re:OLE DB??

[sandman_eh]

Yeah lets screw open standards.

Admittely ODBC is/was gennerally improved AFAICT by microsoft, it is essentially still an X/Open standard.

It is availble on many platforms, Mac/VMS/Unix/Windows and probably others too. It is a relative striaghtforward C API for database access. Ok, native access could be quicker but I think you'd find difficulty building a thinner layer for all databse engines.

Lets be honest about this two in many cases I reckon you will find OLE DB implement on top of the ODBC drivers . Not that I've ever used OLE DB being a crossplatform developer.

Uh, he's a Linuxworld columnist?

[yoz]

Two points:

1: The writer of the piece, talking about his install troubles, is a Linuxworld columnist. Now, this may not give them kernel-developer-like skills, but...

2: ... how leet should Linux users be before they can install an MS Access equivalent? On Windows, you can do it with a few clicks. It sounds like you want the Linux equivalent to come with a 10-page exam.

-- Yoz

Re:Uh, he's a Linuxworld columnist?

[sporty]

It sounds like you want the Linux equivalent to come with a 10-page exam.

4 pages max. Unless it was an essay.

Re:Uh, he's a Linuxworld columnist?

[smillie]

When I was doing coding one of the most difficult things to find was a newbie who was willing to let me watch them use my new program. I could learn a lot by watching someone do something "intuitive" and my code wouldn't behave as they expected. Each time I modified the user interface I had to find a new newbie because the old ones now had preconceived ideas on how it worked. The next problem was that one person wasn't a very large sample. As a normal geed I didn't have all that many friends to draw on.

Re:Uh, he's a Linuxworld columnist?

[j_kenpo]

"I agree that it should be simpler to set up, but does Joe Sixpack really need to be designing databases?"

Absolutly, if Joe Sixpack works for a small freight, delivery or trucking company and needs to keep a small database of shipping, customers, destinations, and other small business related matters. Ive seen plenty of smaller companies (1 to 2 offices and handfull of employees) who do this with Access (mostly by means of the pre-built databases and templates, or a consultant/tech set one up for them). This is my point right here, instead of the "why would they" or the "should they be" mind set, it should be percieved from the "Ok, they are going to, so how can I make it easier for them".

Re:Uh, he's a Linuxworld columnist?

[yoz]

Yes and the few click method generally leaves security holes wide enough to drive a bus through. That method is obviously working.

No, poor security design generally leaves security holes wide enough to drive a bus through. Fast, easy installers with secure defaults generally leave happy users with less hair torn out and less anger at ivory-tower developers who think you should already know a piece of software inside and out before being allowed to install it.

Since when did usability design equate to wide-open holes, apart from in the minds of those who think spending two hours hand-editing a makefile is a vital entry requirement for those who want to use basic office software?

-- Yoz

Re:MySQL haiku: get it right

[Chocolate Teapot]

Petty nitpicker
You spoiled the joke entirely
I thought it was good.

Re:Who cares

[fishbowl]

>Are there seriously still people who don't have
>MS Office?

There are projects for which the price of MS Windows and MS Office will preclude the project being done. Such things may not matter to you, since you obviously either have working capital or are willing to compromise your ethics. What if your entire expected revenue was less than the price of that software, but the system you want to develop has value other than cash value? Because of the price of Office, you're suggesting that such a project should not even be done.

That's not your call. It's okay that there are alternatives, and that people choose to use them!

MySQL vs Access

[lspd]

This certainly isn't the first or last attempt to wrap a user friendly UI on top of MySQL, but I think attempts to push MySQL + a nice GUI as an Access killer are mistaken.

My own experience with Access is fairly limited, but from what work I have done with Access, it seems that the biggest benefit is entirely ignored by this and other products like The Kompany's Data Architect. Access lets you take everything (data, reports, forms, queries, etc) and shove it all into a single portable file. Burning a copy to CD-R or Floppy is a snap, and it seems to be much easier for the clueless to wrap their heads around the idea of a database + reports + forms as a single file. I tried to sell a non-profit organization on the idea of MySQL + custom interfaces as a replacement to their quirky Access databases and they were completely unplussed by the idea.

It seems like such a simple idea to combine perl or Python forms, HTML, XML or PDF reports, and Data into a single gzipped file (maybee even a file that runs on it's own without any third party software other than a perl or python interpriter.) I don't get why so much effort seems to be directed at making MySQL user friendly instead. MySQL seems like complete overkill as an Access replacement. GNutrition is a good example of this problem.. Why in the world do you need a MySQL server for something so simple?

TheJesusCandle steals someone's comment. Again.

[pnot]

I've seen Amazon reviews pasted into /. for a +5 Informative, but I have to admire your sheer gall in pasting in a comment on the same thread from half an hour ago.

Good idea, though. This being Slashdot, nobody checks for dupes ;-).

Hmm, looks like this is a habit of yours. I'm continually amazed that people consider /. karma a sufficiently precious commodity to bother with this kind of thing...