October 8, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I have started to learn Sql Server 2005 Express but find that the data examples are not relevant to me. I don't sell Widgets but I do have 15 years of data in Dbase files that are relevant to my business and I would like to use this data as examples as I know their relationships. My programs are Clipper compiled but I now want to emerge from the dark ages and bring my system up to date.
So my questions are:
Can I import my data into Sql Server, and if so, how do I go about getting the necessary knowledge to design user friendly screen forms to enter data, and extract data to various properly formatted reports. I realise that its quite a bit of a learning curve and I don't want to go about it in the wrong direction by getting inappropriate learning material, so I would appreciate it if you good people out there can point me in the right direction.
James
October 8, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Hi James
The migration process is devided into few steps, each requires its own decisions:
1. Migrate the dbase files 'as-is'. This is plain simple using SQL (not Express) management console, Microsoft Access and various 3rd party tools. You should take care of special encodings, if you use them
2. Decide which UI language and environment you are going to use: Windows forms vs. Web forms, VB.net vs. C#, asp, php, etc... <-- This is the most important phase
3. connection library: I know nothing about clipper, but make sure you can connect from the programming language you chose in previous step to SQL server. Chances are that it IS possible.
4. Add reporting capabilities to your app using SQL Server reporting services, Crystal reports, etc.
5. Optimize code for SQL: Table design, indexes, indexed views, move batches to stored procedures.
This is the whole process in a nutshell, but you'll have a lot of work in there...
Good luck...
October 8, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Thank you Ben for the prompt reply, it is much appreciated. I know it may be a slow process but I will enjoy the challenge. I thought that if I could first migrate the data using SQL management console as you suggest, sort out the table design, relationships etc. then practice with the raw data just to get the hang of it. I could then go onto items 2-5 once I'm a bit more confident with basic SQL statements.
Regards
James
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