Should I be using VB for this application?

[SubjectiveEffect]

I'm planning a portable logbook for employees to replace the current unstable Filemaker Pro one but I've got a few problems from the start.

I don't know which database system to use.

The project has to meet specific criteria: It is a logbook that stores information in a database and which can be used to produce reports detailing each employee's activity.

It must also be:

1. Portable on a flash disk.
2. Easy to set up. Unzipping into a folder and being ready to go would be ideal.
3. Possible to create a backup tool that saves backups of the database from within the application. The frequency of the backups should be controllable and restoring should be easy.
4. Be able to import and export .csv files for integration/migration to and from the existing application.

I do JavaScript, PHP, mySQL and general relational database design. I did know some ASP and VB some years ago. (I'm keen on CSS too, but that's icing).

Options I'd considered:

a. MS Access.

b. Portable Apache + mySQL and PHP/Javascript pages.

c. XAMPP and PHP/Javascript pages.


So I was discussing this on Sitepoint and it lead to looking at VB again. I see that VB Express is both free and can be used with Access.

So my questions to you VB gurus are:

Is VB Express suitable for creating this application? And will the final package run on machines what do not have Access installed? I don't need it too but that would be nice.

 

[HarleyQuinn]

VB Express should do all of the things you want this application to do without issue, depending how the machines you want to use it on are setup (installed framework etc.).

The main issue I would be thinking is whether you have the time/inclination to essentially learn a brand new language (as it's alot different than the VB you used some years ago, VB5 I think you said in the thread in the VB6 forum).

George also makes some useful comments in that other thread (thread222-1526656)

Hope this helps

HarleyQuinn
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