06-19-2020, 06:10 PM
So, I'm a desktop developer, but I'm very inexperienced when it comes to the web.
I have a desktop app that I wrote (Windows Forms DotNet with an dmb database file) that I have been using for years to keep track of some data. It's a very simply app. It's basically a grid with a list of items and then a detail view of a single item so you can add/edit. The front-end accesses a database and I can search thee data, add/delete/update records, etc.
But being a desktop app, it's inconvenient to access it. I am basically storing the entire app and all of it's dependencies on my OneDrive. And whenever I need to access the data, I go to OneDrive, download the entire app into a folder on my PC, use the app and then, if I made any changes, I have to copy the app (or at least the mdb file) back to my OneDrive.
So I've been toying with the idea of translating this app into some kind of web-based platform so I can access it from anywhere without all the overhead. So I need a place to host the database and some kind of front-end. Very simple.
It seems pretty clear to me that GigaRocket would allow me to register a domain name and create a database. And then I'd have to write some sort of front-end that allows me to access the data, filter it, add, modify, delete, etc. And that's the part where I'm a little fuzzy.
A lot of these free web hosting services, like GigaRocket list a whole bunch of software packages that they support like WordPress - which I'm pretty sure is for blogs. But then there are a ton of others like cPanel (which seems pretty straightforward - it's the control panel by which I manage the databases and the files and everything else).
So... and this will probably sound dumb... let's say I start a GigaRocket account and I am able to create the database I need. What would my next step be? Does one of these packages have a facility that will give me the ability to easily filter, add, delete, modify, etc. data in a database easily?
Or do I need to develope my own front-end using html, javascript, etc.?
Anyway, thanks for any advice you can offer. No advice is too simple - I am truly a noob when it comes to web development. :)
I have a desktop app that I wrote (Windows Forms DotNet with an dmb database file) that I have been using for years to keep track of some data. It's a very simply app. It's basically a grid with a list of items and then a detail view of a single item so you can add/edit. The front-end accesses a database and I can search thee data, add/delete/update records, etc.
But being a desktop app, it's inconvenient to access it. I am basically storing the entire app and all of it's dependencies on my OneDrive. And whenever I need to access the data, I go to OneDrive, download the entire app into a folder on my PC, use the app and then, if I made any changes, I have to copy the app (or at least the mdb file) back to my OneDrive.
So I've been toying with the idea of translating this app into some kind of web-based platform so I can access it from anywhere without all the overhead. So I need a place to host the database and some kind of front-end. Very simple.
It seems pretty clear to me that GigaRocket would allow me to register a domain name and create a database. And then I'd have to write some sort of front-end that allows me to access the data, filter it, add, modify, delete, etc. And that's the part where I'm a little fuzzy.
A lot of these free web hosting services, like GigaRocket list a whole bunch of software packages that they support like WordPress - which I'm pretty sure is for blogs. But then there are a ton of others like cPanel (which seems pretty straightforward - it's the control panel by which I manage the databases and the files and everything else).
So... and this will probably sound dumb... let's say I start a GigaRocket account and I am able to create the database I need. What would my next step be? Does one of these packages have a facility that will give me the ability to easily filter, add, delete, modify, etc. data in a database easily?
Or do I need to develope my own front-end using html, javascript, etc.?
Anyway, thanks for any advice you can offer. No advice is too simple - I am truly a noob when it comes to web development. :)