Re: 1 & 2-tier database applications in Delphi 5

Posted by webmaster Guido on November 06, 2000 at 15:55:39:

In Reply to: 1 & 2-tier database applications in Delphi 5 posted by George McKenna on November 03, 2000 at 15:47:22:

: Hello all,

: Can anyone suggest some reading material/tutorials on creating 1 & 2 tier database applications? I am a beginner at Delphi 5 but am attempting to run a database on a machine on a Novell network and access it from other machines.
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For starters, C/S is not the same thing as "file sharing". Ask yourself if you really need C/S. Maybe if you rethink the problem, it might be that a file sharing solution is sufficient; that is, only sharing the databases from the server and having the application at every client PC.

It's not so obvious what parts of your application must come in the server part and what parts come at the client side. Do you need C/S
because file sharing would overload your network, or because the client PC's are "too light" to handle the calculations and the data extraction from the database, or because the databases are in a format that can't be handled by a desktop program?

In any case, it's advisable to start with a simplified stand-alone desktop app. Nex t, modify this app as to access the database from the server. And finally (if still necessary) split up the app in two parts: one for the "front end" clients, one for the server.

I can't recommend good books nor tutorials, as I'm not an expert in the C/S field. Just one tip: "The Delphi Magazine" has published some very useful articles on C/S, e.g. a series called "Surviving Client/Server". Besides their magazine, each year they publish a CD-ROM with all the articles and code of the previous years, plus a database with keywords and pointers to the articles (www.itecuk.com)