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MySQL: Building User Interfaces
Craig Maloney writes "If you are a Windows programmer looking to create or move your stand-alone database applications away from Microsoft-specific tools such as Visual Basic, Visual C++, Access or SQL Server, MySQL: Building User Interfaces is written just for you." Read on for the rest of Craig's review.
MySQL: Building User Interfaces
author
Matthew Stucky
pages
632
publisher
New Riders
rating
4/10
reviewer
Craig Maloney
ISBN
073571049X
summary
MySQL and GTK+ are used to create cross-platform applications, with copious code listings.
What's in the book? The first chapter guides the reader through the basics of MySQL and how it compares to Access 2000 and SQL Server 97. Next, a code listing demonstrates the basics of connecting to MySQL via C using the MySQL C API. the book gives an all-too-brief whirlwind tour to the basics of MySQL. The next four chapters are a tutorial on how to use GTK+ and GLADE, focusing on how these toolkits are similar and different from their Visual Basic counterparts. GTK+ was chosen in this book because of its cross-platform compatibility with both Windows and Linux / UNIX operating environments. The second part of the book takes what was learned about MySQL and GTK+ with GLADE and uses it to create a stand-alone application (a real-world order-entry application). What's Good? Throughout MySQL: Building User Interfaces, Stuckey describes exactly what he is doing and why he is doing it that way. The introduction to GTK+ in the first part of the book describes just about every GTK+ widget available (menus, buttons, sliders, status bars, etc.), and creates a monster busy-box application (not to be confused with the busy-box application by Bruce Perens) demonstrating those widgets by themselves. Later in the book Stuckey uses Glade to put applications together, but not using Glade early on gives the reader a chance to see what is happening under Glade's abstraction. During the building of the order-entry application, Stuckey explains the design decisions behind the widgets. Each window of the application is introduced first with a diagram describing where the widgets will be followed by the code for each widget. The design looks like a Visual Basic application designed by a a programmer, with an eye toward the functional rather than the aesthetics of user interface design, but as an introduction to GTK+ programming it works well. What's Bad? If there was ever a book that required a CD-ROM to accompany it, this book gets my nomination. Authors have to walk a fine line between presenting code snippets that don't make sense by themselves, or risk boring readers with page after page of code that might confuse readers who aren't yet ready to view full code listings. MySQL: Building User Interfaces chose to include the full code listing for everything. This is both a blessing and a curse: readers have the code right in front of them and don't have to worry about being in front of a computer while reading the book, but the flow of the book is interrupted every time something is introduced.
The descriptions also suffer, because those code listings are expected to explain in more detail what is going on. In the GTK+ introduction, widgets are introduced with short paragraph introductions. The real-world application, which should be the focus of the book, reads like an assembly line: A screen is introduced, the widgets are placed, and the code is listed. Worse, files which make little sense without a computer (such as files generated by glade) are presented along with the code listings. This makes reading this book a chore. Thankfully, there is an FTP site with the code ready to use, but future versions of this book would be best served to include it on disc.
Perhaps a balance can be struck in a future edition where important code concepts are highlighted without sacrificing seeing the code in a meaningful context.
So, what's in it for me? Windows programmers who need a hand in getting their applications to Linux or UNIX may find this book helpful (but overwhelming) as they learn. This book stands out as a bridge for Windows programmers to make their transition to Linux and UNIX smoother, but the emphasis and amount of code listings in this book may make Windows programmers choose a different route.You can purchase MySQL: Building User Interfaces from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
MS Access has the advantage (on Windows machines anyway) of being a stand-alone database without needing a service to be installed. For a app where you don't want to have to install MySQL server and have it waste resources, you might consider SQLite. Unlike MySQL embedded, it's release under the public domain. MySQL Embedded is licensed under the GPL and has the following requirement:
Although, depending on what you want to do with the software, this may not be a problem. I'm all for free and open source software, but a brother's gotta eat too.
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No affiliate tags are used above. But here's the amazon link with my tag, if you feel generous.
Before all the naysayers start in on what a flaky database MySQL is, how it doesn't do this or that, that it just a toy, please visit their web site and see what its current feature set is.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
Before that, the dang thing doesn't support nested subqueries, or any kind of subqueries on inserts and deletes. Found that out the hard way recently (the docs don't make it very clear) and had to rewrite a bunch of elegant SQL as less elegant Perl loops and wacky joins.
Still, I love MySQL. Postgres is more full featured, but for the smallish web-based applications I write, it's overkill.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
I read most of this book (maybe an older version?) last year. I found it very interesting because it basically gave me the idea to let the staff members of my web site update the site through a windowed interface as opposed to a web interface. MySQL doesn't have to be running on the same computer as the program is running on, so this would be simple. That way you could provide a rich client (for staff members, not end-users) to update a web site based on MySQL.
I know, it's not an original idea, but it's interesting because the book was a nice, step by step guide to doing just this. For what it's worth, I enjoyed it.
On the other hand, I ended up spending time with XUL instead.
It is an open source program similar to Microsoft Access. It works with MySQL too. It even runs on Windows.
Nero-burning ROM for Linux!
Recently I had to write a mysql demo for a tradshow. I had
never worked with mySQL before. I got this book and was
able to complete a full fledged demo in a matter of three
days, working part time. The book is very well organized,
easy to read and understand and best of all the examples
work without modifications. I highly recommend this book
for beginners. I would have done so for all levels but
I'm not an advanced user of mySQL.
If you're thinking of getting started on mySQL this is the
book.
I have this book on my desk currently, its definitely a good resource on using MySQL for programs. The only gripe I had with it was that it didn't come with the source code, like was said in the review. I like how it focuses on converting the VB programmer over to GTK conventions.
Maybe someone should send Mike Rowe a copy after he gets out of Redmond-Training.
Slashdot sucks
from the sql lite page it looks like multiple users can select silmultaneously but only write to the database one at a time. Locking for writes is not record level, page level or even table level - it is the whole database.
Too bad- because MySQL really does not replace Access but neither does this- unless it will only run internally to one user.
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
if you are a windows programmer then you must be retarded
I know many retarded people that would be offended by that statement.
Seriously though, making sweeping statements like that just makes it obvious that you were never good enough for the high school debating team...
...might be to use a higher level language wrapper like Ruby/GTK.
Prototyping an app will probably take less time if you don't have the compile/link cycle... worth a try, anyhow.
The Army reading list
Don't confuse stupidity with lack of political engagement / ethics / knowledge / possibilities. I know quite a few people who are more or less stuck with Windows for various reasons (the main one being their employers' decision to - willingly or not - support Microsoft), but who would like to learn more and be able to break free. If a book like this can help even a few people gain some of the skills they need to migrate, it's a good thing.
This signature is not in the public domain.
I don't get why so many people are stuck on MySQL. It's lacks some very, very basic features: Views, Triggers, Stored procedures, nested selects. Sure, they promise support for all this in future version, but PostgreSQL supports it NOW. If you want a full-featured open source database, don't use MySQL, use Postgres.
"If you are a Windows programmer looking to create or move your stand-alone database applications away from Microsoft-specific tools such as Visual Basic, Visual C++, Access or SQL Server, MySQL: Building User Interfaces is written just for you."
Very few Windows applications are written in 'C' these days so converting an existing application to use MySQL would be pretty painful. You should have a better reason to port your code then simply avoiding MS tools.
Perhaps the book is better suited for developers who wish to switch to Linux for future development.
...if you don't use transactions, stored procedures, triggers, views, sequences (read: real ones), or if you actually want your database to be typesafe and have your insert/update to throw an error (or at least a warning!) on invalid data. Otherwise MySQL is most certainly not a viable replacement, although the codebase which used to be called SAPDB is. Firebird also qualifies for a replacement.
Also, if you need advanced XML querying tools for your database, none of the open source RDBMSs can currently act as a reasonable drop-in replacement for MS SQL Server.
If you don't need any of those features (and especially haven't actually used any of them in existing code), then MySQL could be added to the list of open source RDBMSs that fit the requirements for your project.
- I don't need to go outside, my CRT tan'll do me just fine.
- Obviously not everyone has Access. Many do, or have access to it via work or school (access to Access?!?)
- There were certain things that were easier to implement in an HTML-based setting (conversely, there's things I still can't equal that were accomplished easily using VB & Active-X. Things such as a customized file browser with a built in image viewer)
-
While some of my VB code and Active-X'ing would have been transferable to the web, it would have required requiring that the user of my system use IE to administer it. Not gonna happen!
-
I just don't like Microsoft enough to make my product only available to users of their software. The above IE example would have required my admins to IE; Access would require users to have Access; Having Access implies that the user must also run Windows (Wine just isn't there for Access usage I'm afraid. At least not for very advanced usage)
But for other projects I have, who's target audience is Windows users, Access is a great way to quickly build some impressive mySQL-based applications. IMHO, of course. 8)=