Author Topic: Web Developers, I need some help (Read 555 times)

moose · « **on:** October 01, 2002, 05:10:41 AM »

Hey,

My father comes to me yesterday with an interesting problem. He runs a ferry service to Martha's Vinyard and the previous manager went out and spent a ton of money on a reservations program that is ridiculously complicated and worthless. They've been doing all their reservations the old fashioned way, all by hand, but he wants to go and try the computer route again.

All they need is a simple way to add res. into the system, have it display available seating for each day of the season, and most likely be able to print out the records themselves.

I don't know how to program, but I'm working on learning asp and from what I understand this kind of stuff could easily be done with just a database on an IIS server and some sweet web programming. I guess I just want to know how hard this could possibly be because I would have until next summer to build it.

My idea would be to have just a simple Intranet setup with workstations, a login page with different user levels (basic employees can add a reservation, managers can delete) etc etc

devious · « **Reply #1 on:** October 01, 2002, 05:39:09 AM »

This really is a simple task.

Why waste the money on IIS and ASP.NET development licenses ? I'd rather write it in PERL or Java, on a linux box using Apache ( $0 in licenses )

Stridr417 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 01, 2002, 06:53:35 AM »

Yes don't waste your tim with ASP. If you have the time then go with PHP and MySQL on a Linux. You may even find a free host. What I really recommend is Coldfusion. Its very very powerful and easy to use and learn.

Strider 417

moose · « **Reply #3 on:** October 01, 2002, 07:19:37 AM »

thanks for the suggestions - keep em coming

i'm not against learning perl or java, i have all winter and a quiet overnight job to study at. its just linux which scares me

never been able to grasp the concept of unix for some reason

Kratzer · « **Reply #4 on:** October 01, 2002, 09:55:21 AM »

Don't let people force you into Unix based stuff if you don't know Unix - it just adds to what you need to learn. If you have Windows, getting a website up and running (especially just on an intranet) is very simple, and there won't be IIS and 'ASP.NET' development fees.

Just write it in ASP with some sort of text editor (development fee: $0) and an Access database. These are all things that you will have easy access to, and which will all be familiar if you are a Windows user.

If you have more specific questions, feel free to ask here or through email.

LePaul · « **Reply #5 on:** October 01, 2002, 10:07:53 AM »

Oh here we go with the ASP vs PHP vs *whatever* bit.

Frankly, I like them all to various degrees. I have many free ASP programs that work great, and several I paid for as well.

I won't even go into the NT Server vs Linux servers bit. My NT servers have been up for years, working fine, staying up to date with service packs etc....Linux machines have been updated, hacked, updated, hacked, etc etc. I have some Linux-based servers, but *I* (me, myself & i here) find NT/2k easier to work with.

For a good ASP software site...

http://www.aspin.com

There are others, but that's one of my favorites

-sudz- · « **Reply #6 on:** October 01, 2002, 10:18:45 AM »

Needs more info:

- Will the program be accepting the fares online or just establishing reservations to be paid when they board?

- What reservation search criteria will be offered? Date, seat preference, cost, adjacent seating blocks (for groups).

- What information do you need to collect about the person doing the reservations? Name, phone, addy, email?

- On the office side of things, what exactly does your uncle need or want to look up? Capacity by trip? by day? weekly, monthly, etc projections? History from years past?

- What's the budget for ISPs, servers, etc?

- What level of security does your database need?

Take my advice - find out everything that the system will be used for. Otherwise you'll end up with another version of the first crappy product and it's back to pen and paper reservations.

-Sudz

Innominate · « **Reply #7 on:** October 01, 2002, 10:39:55 AM »

First off, you're going to be doing a LOT of learning, before you actually get anything done. Learning to program is much more than learning the syntax of the programming language.

If you're unfamiliar with unix, and don't have a lot of time to spend on learning it, I'd reccomend apache(or even IIS) and PHP on a win2k/NT/Xp box, along with probably mysql. IMO Basic and all of it's bastardized descendants should have died years ago.

Anyways, like sudz said, much more info is needed, everything these systems need to do should be laid out ahead of time. Do they need to do any kind of payment processing, or is it just to figure out who-sits-where?

Kanth · « **Reply #8 on:** October 01, 2002, 10:41:07 AM »

If you want to get it done for him go with what you know.

If you are interested in Linux at all then this is a good opportunity to learn it.

But if you want to develop using Microsoft technologies then what you already know should help to make this easier and possibly less frustrating than working with everything you are unfamiliar with.

Sounds like a neat little project no matter what you choose to do.

If you aren't familiar with databases maybe start with the basics, creating a simple access database, connecting to it, adding information and retreiving information.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/

is microsofts help site for developers, it's fairly uptodate

you may also find dsnless connections to be easier to deal with.

do a search on it, and you'll see what I mean.

also remember that there is no rule that says you can only keep someone's name rank and serial in a database, you can add anything in there that you want to. Including page formatting code to be pulled and placed into your web page.

understand the session object and what it's used for.

If you need help doing anything in particular speak up I'm sure there are plenty of people here who are willing to help.

Quote

Originally posted by moose
thanks for the suggestions - keep em coming

i'm not against learning perl or java, i have all winter and a quiet overnight job to study at. its just linux which scares me

never been able to grasp the concept of unix for some reason

LePaul · « **Reply #9 on:** October 01, 2002, 10:50:37 AM »

I did a quick search on ASPin.com for "reservation" and found a few hits of interest..

http://www.aspin.com/func/search?tree=aspin%2Fwebapps&qry=reservation&cat=

Wlfgng · « **Reply #10 on:** October 01, 2002, 10:54:26 AM »

drop me a line moosemeister...
I have some development tools for a squaddie...

jonnyb · « **Reply #11 on:** October 01, 2002, 12:37:59 PM »

There are multiple ways you can accomplish what you are looking for, with minimal cost. As has been suggested, you could go with a php/mysql solution, a java/tomcat/db-of-your-choice, or even with MS technologies. It's all up to what you're most comfortable with.

The kind of system you're describing is exactly what I build. I was on the team that built columbiahouse.com, bn.com, and kinkos.com, so I've got some experience

.

To boil it down, you're gonna need to develop 3 tiers. Yes, you can combine them by using php/jsp/asp/whatever other technology, but it will still require three basic elements:

web tier
business logic tier
data storage tier

The web tier is your presentation level. It contains the stuff to make things pretty (html, cascading style sheets, images, etc). The business tier handles the logic of the application. For example, a user tries to log in and perform an action. The business tier decides whether or not to allow the action, and how to handle it. Finally, the storage/persistence tier handles where and how to manage the data.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you've got any questions or want some help.

moose · « **Reply #12 on:** October 01, 2002, 04:05:45 PM »

I really appreciate all the replies

I'm going down tomorrow to the harbor and I'll find out exactly what they need. Will update you guys on what I discover

Right off i just found out they would like online reservation capacity which means it'll more then i originally thought but i'm still going to try and convince them to let me do it. plus i bet i'd be cheaper then going for the $12,000 alternative they've already explored.

basically i like designing websites but this would be the first one i tried with anything other then css and html. hopefully the experience on this will help me do the other projects because as is i've turned down a few local stores who asked me to make online sites for them.

Innominate · « **Reply #13 on:** October 01, 2002, 04:18:36 PM »

I wouldnt reccomend jumping from no programming experience to a commercial internet based project, especially with online payment systems. There are too many pitfalls and possible security problems.

I'd reccomend jumping in with your language of choice, and using it for other things. Once you are proficient enough with it to use it for your own purposes, then worry about making some money with it.

Learning how to program is nothing like learning HTML, or even learning the syntax of the language. Programming is a skill all it's own that is entirely independent of the language being used.

Eagler · « **Reply #14 on:** October 01, 2002, 04:24:43 PM »

depending on the computer savy of those who are going to use it, a simplier solution maybe the way to go. Something as simple as a mailto form with manual emial or tele confirmation within 24hrs.

there's a load of mom and pop motels all up and down the west coast here that stay full during season with nothing more sophiticated than that.