[AccessD] Controlling an Access Reporting Application from an iPhone, iPad or iPod

Stuart,

Thanks for your reply.  At least I have some confirmation that my approach may be viable.

I have not dug into the Android world yet, only the Apple realm.

I have had a bit of fun with TechBasic and my initial tests seem to be working nicely.  

It seems to me that there are some very large opportunities for someone to build some nice bridges between the tablet world (both Android and Apple) and the Windows world.  A large percentage of firms use Windows products and a growing number of people have Android or Apple devices.  

Thanks again,

Brad
    


-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com on behalf of Stuart McLachlan
Sent: Sun 7/14/2013 6:44 AM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: Re: [AccessD] Controlling an Access Reporting Application from aniPhone, iPad or iPod
 
> I am curious if anyone else has looked into this realm of bridging the gap between the 
> world of iPads/iPhones and the Windows realm.  

iDevice - no, Android yes.

Using Basic4Android for the  tablet applications
PowerBasic or a Web Server for the Listener 
Access / SQL Server / MySQL for the BE,
PowerBasic / PHP / Access for the report generation or whatever.

For listeners, I've used different appraochs
(a). data is sent from the device as an email request to a dedicated address and the Listener 
periodically POPs and parses any waiting emails 
(b) data is sent to an IP address where a "real" listener monitors a port and parses the data 
packet sent to it.
(c)  WAMP running on a server and the device sends HTTP requests to a PHP page.

I haven't tried it with FTP, but that would be as good a way as my email method  if your don't 
need an instant response.
. 
-- 
Stuart

On 14 Jul 2013 at 6:04, Brad Marks wrote:

> All,
> 
> I have started to do a fun little R&D project and I would like to
> share my ideas (and solicit your feedback). 
> 
> Background - 
> 
> I work for a small manufacturing firm (50 employees) with a very
> limited IT budget.  I have used Access 2007 to build a series of
> "Report Jobs" that are automatically run every night.  The generated
> reports are e-mailed to key employees every night as PDF files.  These
> employees can view the reports on their home PCs, but most of them
> like to view the reports on their iPads or iPhones.  This works
> nicely. 
> 
> Recently, there was some discussion about actually "running" the
> Access reports on an iPad.  I explained that this was not possible,
> but it might be possible to "Control" Access report jobs on the
> Windows Server from an iPad or iPhone. 
> 
> Here is the approach that I have started to experiment with.  
> 
> 
> The iPad Side -
> 
> I recently purchased an iPad product called TechBasic.  It sells for
> $15.00 on iTunes.  It is for application development and testing. 
> However, to deploy an app to other devices requires a second $50
> product called TechBasic App Builder. 
> 
> TechBasic is a flavor of Basic that is geared to the scientific
> community.  It has many easy-to-use GUI objects.  With a small amount
> of work, I have built a test application that runs on the iPad.  This
> application uses a GUI object to collect a small amount of what I call
> "Report Control Info".  (Example - Run Sales Order Report-100 for
> Midwest Division).  This small amount of control info is uploaded to a
> server via FTP commands in the TechBasic app. 
> 
> 
> The Windows Side -
> 
> One the Windows Side, I have built a small "Listener" program that is
> set up to run every 5 minutes.  (This time interval could be less if
> needed).  The Listener program simply obtains the "Report Control
> Info" via an FTP "Get".  The Listener program uses the info that it
> obtains to initiate the generation of the appropriate Access report
> with any uploaded oereport paramete?s.  Onc? the report is generated,
> it is automatically e-mailed to the requester as a PDF file. 
> 
> Admittedly, this is a somewhat crude and simplistic approach, but I
> believe that it will be a useful tool for our users.  In addition,
> there is very little investment in this approach.  The reports are not
> returned "immediately", but I don´t believe that this is going to be a
> problem as they will be returned in a few mintues. 
> 
> Previously, I experimented with several "Remote Desktop" type products
> that run on the iPad.  I had some success but I believe that this
> approach would be too complicated for our end users.   
> 
> I am curious if anyone else has looked into this realm of bridging the
> gap between the world of iPads/iPhones and the Windows realm.  
> 
> Again, this is sort of a fun little R&D "Hobby" project and I am open
> to suggestions, alternative ideas, etc. 
> 
> Thanks,
> Brad           
> 
> 



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