developing for the mac?

[brightstar]

Hey,
I develop databases for windows pc's but ive been asked to do one for some mac users.
Access isnt compatible and im having difficulty trying to find a development tool that will give me some decent functionality on the mac - that i can develop on a windows machine. ive seen filemaker Pro, looked naff, ive seen 4d, looks good but not particularly user friendly, are there any others? whats the mac equivalent of access?

 

[jimoblak]

How about a database server on a single machine that any platform can hook into through a web browser (Apache, MySQL, PHP)?

This eliminates client & server licensing fees and platform restrictions. You just need a TCP/IP network.

 

[brightstar]

hmmm. i hadnt considered that, but thinking about it.. i have just learnt how to do that in 4D and i was impressed with the results. but i wanted to avoid the cost of a 4D server. But that is good thinking about the savings on licensing costs. thankyou.

 

[chrisdl]

I do Macintosh software development. I can do database work using RealBasic, Foxpro or FileMaker. Let me know if I can help.

chris@DLTechDev.com
-Chris (Consultant / Software Engineer)

 

[brightstar]

actually i was considering filemaker as well. off the top of your head do you know the main differences between filemaker and 4d?
its a very simple contact and finance management db with a few criteria specific to the industry of the client. maximum of 10 users, perhaps remote users, with max of 10 concurrent. what'd be your choice for development platform?

 

[jimoblak]

Regarding development platforms...

Although my experience is limited to a time-limited demo a year or so ago, RealBasic can create Mac and PC executables directly from the Mac platform. It does not need a compiler on both platforms.

 

[brightstar]

Is it not better to use an RDBMS package, even if it needs compiling on both platforms, over having toi write the whole thing yourself? im thinking of the time consideration here and the fact that it is quite a simple database.