[dba-VB] Goin' for the (browser based) gold

jwcolby jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Wed Mar 17 09:59:18 CDT 2010


Max,

Actually I don't use outlook, though I know how to automate it in VBA (Access).  But I am doing this 
in C# or .Net.

Thanks for the suggestion.

John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com


Max Wanadoo wrote:
> John, you are going to get lots of different ways to solve this.
> 
> My "restrictions" are pretty much like yours but there are a million and one
> ways to do this.
> 
> But, keeping in lean and mean, I would do this:
> 
> 1. Get him to Email the zips as excel attachment and specific words in
> subject.
> 2. Create a RULE in Outlook that looks for these words and moves it to a
> specified Top Level Folder.
> 3. Have the rule then open an Access  application.
> 4. The application will go to that folder in Outlook, extract the attachment
> and work on it.
> 5. The application will then email the results back to him.
> 
> Or, if you wish, have them set as one-per-line in the body of the email and
> then do the same without the excel s/sheet.
> 
> Or,complet a Web form and have that auto-emailed to you and then run the
> rule.
> 
> Many ways
> 
> Now tell me you don't use  outlook!!
> Max
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dba-vb-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> [mailto:dba-vb-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby
> Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 1:53 PM
> To: VBA
> Subject: [dba-VB] Goin' for the (browser based) gold
> 
> As you guys know, I have started doing a lot of stuff in C#.  One specific
> client places orders with me to provide him "counts of records where..."
> kind of thing.  To make a long story short, it is a moderately complex
> process which I am automating using C#.  However what I would REALLY like to
> do is to make it a process that they can do themselves.
> 
> My question to those who know more than I (translated "most everybody") how
> would i go about doing something like this.
> 
> 1) The client is in NY.
> 2) The data is in my server in NC
> 3) The server is Windows 2003
> 4) SQL Server 2008
> 5) I have and am getting pretty comfortable with C#
> 6) I have moderately high internet speed, 12M down 1 meg up, but the new
> "burst mode" which essentially doubles that for the first 30 seconds.
> 
> So...  What are my options?
> 
> 1) Make it a browser based widget that hits a web server here in my office.
> I don't know how to build a web app.
> 2) Make it a service based C# program that they have on their desktop but
> hits a data service on my office.  I don't know how to do web services yet.
> 3) Something else that I am not thinking about yet.
> 
> At the moment the client sends me a spreadsheet of zips.  I do a
> machination, place the zips in a directory, import into a database in SQL
> Server.  Maybe perform a minor edit to an existing view to get the counts.
> Open an email and paste the results back in, and send the email.
> 
> I have this process down from what used to take an hour or two back a year
> or so ago to about 15 or 20 minutes today, but I still have to be in the
> loop.  My idea is to build a program that allows them to do this themselves,
> log that it has happened and bill them $25 (or something) every time they do
> a count.
> 
> Let them do it themselves making it faster for them, gets me out of the
> loop, drops my income a little but I get paid for my computer instead of my
> time.  Gets me out of the loop is BIG!
> 
> --
> John W. Colby
> www.ColbyConsulting.com
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