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Ask Slashdot: Easy-To-Use Alternative To MS Access For a Charity's Database?
New submitter danzvash (447536) writes "I'm doing some volunteering for a street kids charity in Senegal, West Africa, and they need a new database to store all their information for the kids, and to help the funding organizations like UNICEF. The charity staff have a few computers running Windows 7. Being a die-hard OSS geek I'm more inclined to knock up a MySQL backend with a Django (or similar) front-end and run the whole thing from a reliable VPS. But it needs to be understandable by the non-geeks in the charity — there is no IT expertise here. Is there anything that can allow me to design and edit databases, tables, and forms but doesn't require an MS license?"
I'm surprised a die-hard OSS geek hasn't heard of OpenOffice or LibreOffice's Base.
OpenOffice has a database thing similar to Access (at least on the surface). Dunno how well it fits the use case, but the product blurb sounds right up your alley: https://www.openoffice.org/product/base.html
I think the question might be asked backwards, here. If there is really no IT expertise there, then is Access actually going to get them anything? You might be better off setting them up with something much simpler (for example a spreadsheet) unless they need to be able to connect to it from multiple systems simultaneously or have other requirements that a spreadsheet cannot match.
Don't make your problem more difficult than it needs to be... If you give them software that they can't use then most likely they will stop using it once you are on the plane.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
I assume that if the submitter is planning on building a MySQL and django database system for this charity where nobody else has tech experience, he will commit to moving to Senegal and working for the charity to maintain this db for the next decade+ while the db is in use. All for free.
alternatively, he could build a tool nobody knows how to use, migrate critical data to it, then bail.
my advice from being in similar positions? Just use excel. you can make a VBA form if you feel strongly about it. a single excel file can hold a million records on each tab and it's easy to pull data and summaries. If you're feeling fancy, you can write VBA reports as well. then you can gracefully step away with a clear conscience and let other people handle it.
you say you don't want a ms license. Is this because of the cost or politics? you're running windows anyway. Just dig up some excel 2007 or 2010 licenses or buy off ebay. this way you don't need to do the subscription model that ms is doing now. you say you only have a few computers anyway.
use node.js -- it's javascript so you don't need to know any computer science bullshit to use it. But it's also twice as fast as C since it never blocks. Mongodb is also good because you don't need to understand databases or make sure your numbers are really numbers or your dates are valid or any of that bullshit DBA crap like consistency or transaction. That makes it faster than SQL.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
Stone knives and bearskins are a good alternative to MS Access.
While I never did get around to implementing it (or really needing it), I was always intrigued by the fact that the OpenOffice "Base" application can connect to a MySQL database (and has been able to for many, many years). You may want to consider investigating that, as it may provide a fairly "user friendly" and "easily supported" interface to a solid database backend.
Don Head
UNIX/Linux Administrator
The problem is not the database. We all know Access is no PostGres or MySQL. It is the GUI to build forms and store them.
For example you can create a car parts inventory system really quick and easy for a small shop. You do not have to be an expert developer and an average Joe who knows a tiny bit of sql can develop it and have a working solution within an hour or 2. I wish Access was more used than god aweful Excel to store data, but that and File Maker Pro have filled this market.
I thought about starting a file maker/access clone a few years ago that would be simple and could backend to a SQL database of choice. I never got around to it because I knew it would never compete.
It would be nice to a a gui like Access that can work with a web browser too easily. Until that time there is no replacement for File Maker or Office. (Does Apple even make File Maker anymore ?)
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bollocks. If he's asking for a "simple to use" alternative, the charity is probably not paying anything for it. so a free alternative makes a lot of sense.
If he's knocking up some simple DB, if he was to use the MS product, no doubt it'd be Access or Excel with a load of VBA scripting and macros - and that is usually worse than anything else.
LibreOffice's Base fulfils the same role as Access. just as good, not as expensive.
Take a look at http://sqlitestudio.pl/
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There is too little information given to decide what product solution is "best' for this situation.
Note cards work, Spreadsheet is often enough for "simple" databases. Access and similar are good for designing a good front end (not for the database) and so on.
From the sounds of it (reading between the lines), a good CRM like SugarCRM might actually be a better solution. However without more information, any recommendation is pure guessing at this point.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
BS. Access is a terrible database to use as a back-end for real software doing something complex, but it's great as a single-user tool with its own UI.
While a spreadsheet might be more accessible to non-geeks, Access tries pretty hard to give a low-learning-curve to making simple queries and simple GUIs to show the results of queries, or make simple table edits.
I suspect the OP could make a spreadsheet work, however.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Filemaker Pro is the major alternative to Microsoft Access for small business. When you need to hand off this project to the staff members who don't do development full-time, its critical to that the system be as simple to learn for the layperson as possible. I'm guessing this is why you're asking as opposed to going with the pure OSS solutions that you are most familiar with. Like Access, both frontend UI and the backend database are managed from one integrated IDE. Unlike Access, Filemaker Inc. is wholly owned by Apple (its been around for over 20 years), has versions for both OSX and Windows, can be used with a MySQL backend, and doesn't tie you into Microsoft's web of licensing. Also, there is a free app for IOS devices (Filemaker Go) that makes it easy to add iPhones and iPads to the mix. The mobile copies of the database can be designed to sync over USB or WIFI, enabling usage without relying on Senegal's probably spotty 3G coverage. Disclaimer: I've developed several custom Filemaker solutions for small business and then trained the end users on how to use the solution and modify it their needs change. Good luck!
But it's not going to work for anyone trying to do anything moderately complex, and to recommend it as a solution for a use case you know nothing about and will not end up testing or supporting is just wrong. ... SQL Server Express is free and comes with limitations, but it should easily handle what they need.
So, recommending a solution to a problem that wasn't specified "is just wrong" according to you. Yet you claim that StarOffice won't work for that unspecified problem but SQL Server Express will work for that unspecified problem. Your bias undercuts the recommendations you make.
To answer the original poster's question: I don't know of any analogues to Access in the open source world. What sort of use-cases are you looking to support?
Rather than discuss alternatives I wanted to let you know that many charities are eligible for deep discounts on MS products. Techsoup.org is a clearinghouse (of sorts) for charities and tech companies, allowing for very deep discounts on hardware and software. For example Office Professional Plus 2013 is $32 and Windows 8.1 is $12. In the past I've paid around $125 for Adobe Creative Suite 6.
In addition to discounts techsoup also has a wealth of articles on tech-related issues for nonprofit management. http://techsoup.org/
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>Star/Open/Libre Office are shit for anything more than the bare basics.
The Word Processors in those packages are very capable. I haven't needed MS Office at home for many years now thanks to those alternatives. What about them left you unsatisfied to such a tremendous degree that you label them "shit?"
"I'm doing some volunteering for a street kids charity in Senegal, West Africa, and they need a new database to store all their information for the kids, and to help the funding organizations like UNICEF"
Suppose a department in the company you're working for came to you and said "We want a database to store information, and we want to do it with Lotus Notes". Would your first response be start implementing Lotus Notes, or would it be to say "Umm, just a sec here. Why do you think you need a database?" and "What kind of data, how much data will there be, what do you want to do with it?"
Of course, that's one of the most annoying things that IT people do: ignore your question and try to help solve your actual problem. I apologize now.
For one thing, your problem may already have been solved for someone else.
Are we talking about committing to paying monthly fees for a VPS server? If so, I do not see why the problem with paying for MS Access licenses.
My other question is, if we're talking about about a few PC's running Windows 7 and zero-tech knowledge, how are you going to handle backups and restores of the mysql database and the custom apps?
With MS Access or Excel, you can do backups and restores to/from a CD-ROM, or to a USB stick with a trivially easy restore that anyone could assist with over the phone. With SQL Server Express and some other suggestions, not so easy.
>Being a die-hard OSS geek
I guess the root of the problem is the submitter then. The charity needs to replace them with a less-biased person so the best decision can be made, whether that be OSS or a free-or-cheap charity license for Access.
libre/openoffice base can both be used as a frontend to a mysql database. i'm surprised so few people know about it.
http://extensions.libreoffice....
My general guidelines, for data storage, Fields A, B, through Z by $X records
is $X > 10,000 records? - If Yes use a DB if No see Next Question
Do I need separate out data by type or access, such as Joe can see Name, DOB, Telephone number, Address, Emergency contact info etc. But Jane should only see Name, and Emergency Contact? - If Yes use a DB if No see Next Question
Will more than 1 user need to write data at to this at the same time? If Yes use a DB if No see Next Question
Will more than have users need to read data from this at the same time or will anyone need to read real time changes data? If Yes use a DB if No see Next Question
If you have answered No to all of the above questions, Then use a spreadsheet.
It can be handy if I'm dragging data from multiple sources like an Excel spreadsheet, CSV file and MySQL database, via ODBC connections and be able to build queries on all these sources (even if it can be as slow as a dog).
That's something that ooBase (or LibreOffice Base) has yet to get right - a good database tool lets you pull from *anywhere* and put to *anywhere* with minimal effort. MSAccess has very good import/export capability, which makes it easy to pull in a CSV, massage it, and then output something else.
The other issue with ooBase/LibreBase is that you cannot visually design insert / update / delete queries using their QBE interface. Instead you have to write out all of the SQL. Add to that the stupid idea to use a non-standard SQL engine that requires weird syntax not supported by the mainstream databases (like pgsql). In ooBase you have to put double quotes around every table and field name.
As much as I want to use ooBase/Libre at the office, MSAccess still beats it hands-down for data manipulation.
Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?