Database problem

[sarah_anne]

I need guidance, people ;) I've never proclaimed to be anything quite near a Perl expert, yet I've recently been charged with the (seemingly innocent) task of creating a more sophisticated system of dealing with client data for the company I'm temping for.

Basically, they're a company that holds data on naval companies and their associated ships. Their current "system" (!) is to have a Word document with data in -- you know, AcmeShipping_TheNavalExpress.doc, AcmeShipping_SeaBourne.doc, NavalCo_ThePrincess.doc... which obviously causes a nightmare if company contact details change, etc.

The intranet office system they would like is thus:

An up-to-date list of all clients and ships should be listed (drop down menus?) on a HTML page (Perl generates html output when new additions/amendements?).
- If a Client is selected, contact details should be shown on a HTML page (should be amendable if connected to net).
- If a ship is selected, ship details are listed (client ownership, dob, no of men, and a long-ish engineer's report) on a HTML page which should be amendable if connected to net.
There should be the ability to add a new client or ship, obviously.

One more important thing is that they would like engineers to be able to view the existing engineer's report when they are "in the field" (on boats). This can be done by burning the current report to a CD before they set off.
HOWEVER they would like the engineers to amend those reports easily, too. Having explained that engineers CANNOT physically update the reports from a boat if they are not connected to the internet (sigh), they are happy for some sort of "import" feature to happen in the "amend" section of the boat's details.

This is where my problem lies.

Would the best way to go about doing it involve:

Letting the engineer view a static HTML page with existing Boat Details and Its Report on it, in a text box perhaps.
Allowing amendments to the report section by simply editing that text box.
Letting the engineer click a Save button, and whatever is currently in the text box being saved to a textfile on the desktop, which can then somehow be uploaded at the office later.
Problem? This means that if the engineer views a past report, amends it and thus saves a new report to the desktop, but then wants to add further amendments, he'll open up the old, old original report again, as HIS amendments are saved to a text file.

I'm not sure if I'm being incredibly narrow-minded here but I just can't seem to figure out how this system should or COULD work! It's the fact that boats are NOT connected to the internet but they would like to update boat details that's confusing.

Anyone got any pointers -- am I thinking about this in the correct manner? Is there another, better way to do this? It can't be *this* hard! :(

"Quick and dirty" development, my ***! :rolleyes:

Thanks for any help :)

[netroact]

Problem? This means that if the engineer views a past report, amends it and thus saves a new report to the desktop, but then wants to add further amendments, he'll open up the old, old original report again, as HIS amendments are saved to a text file.


I am not sure that I understand everything but I will give it a shot, since no one else is.

If it was my application, I would start with an html form that writes to a database file, whether mySQL or a text file. Give the office people the url to the form. Then burn a copy of the text file for the ships when they depart. Give the boat people a form to ammend the same file. When they go back to port, run a perl application that will compare their database against the existing database, and add any new data to the existing database on the net.

Of course this doesn't integrate anything with MS stuff. I don't know how to do that. I would think an application like this would require everyone to operate off the same starting page, writing to same database.

[FishMonger]

Before making any updates, you need to check to see if the static data on the CD matches the current DB data. If it doesn't, then you need to output the current DB data and the proposed update prior to updating the DB so the person updating can allow/disallow the update.

A better approach would be to setup a marine-satalite internet connection so they can work directly with the data.