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

I would second that thought of slowly moving to web based entry forms. 

It is sort of half way in between being sent all the data and then you
having to manage it and sending the results back. By building a web form the
data can be controlled or at least partially managed by the client and then
you just have to manage the BE.

I also use a combination of Hamachi VPN (a LogMeIn component) and Filezilla
(a very secure FTP client and Server) to move large blocks of data back and
forth. The free LogMeIn module does not have data transfer... Bigger clients
either have and can use MS Remote Desktop Connection or Linux/Unix based
clients have Citrix.

Jim

    

-----Original Message-----
From: dba-vb-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-vb-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gustav Brock
Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 7:49 AM
To: dba-vb at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: Re: [dba-VB] Goin' for the (browser based) gold

Hi John

The big question is how the lead data get into the worksheet. Are they
extracted/exported from somewhere or are they typed in manually?

If the latter, they could as well type data into a (web)form of yours. If
you are not in the mood for creating your first web application, the simple
method is to create a winform in a small Windows app which you leave running
on a (virtual) machine for which you grant the client remote access. A
splendid and free method for this is to use LogMeIn Free.

/gustav


>>> jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com 17-03-2010 14:52 >>>
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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