Newbie help...! Client/Server App Re-write

[mayhem]

evening guys and gals, please could some big expert out there shed some light on this little project I have to sort...

😕 Background : We have a very old bit of server client software written in Delph! (yer, Delph before you start laughing) Its basically for our van route system we use for delivering newspapers. The screen shots below show you the client and the server apps. Basically, the server app runs on the Fleet Managers PC... whenever a Van leaves the site he will manually hit the route button number and it displays a realtime stamp of the time it left in red under the route number. (see server.jpeg below)

:eek: The Clients (around 30 people upstairs in the offices) will then have the client app loaded on their desktop and it will show them which Van left for which route and when. This is not automatically refreshed, and the user has to hit the refresh button. (see client.jpeg)

😃 Goal : I'd like to re-write this so we can use standard Internet explorer with automatic refresh for client server. I'm hopefully looking for the dynamic updating etc of PHP and MYSQL Backend for future changes of routes etc. I've got everything installed, but can't for the life of me think of the best way to start this. Obviously using something like PHP and MySQL will enable us to run much better reports on this for legacy reporting and monitoring.

I suppose the following might be some questions which i have;

1. Is PHP the best option for this? Or would simple HTML work?
2. Is MYSQL worth using for this?
3. Can a login front end be created for admin, superuser and view only?
4. Can this be user nugget proof? ie nice easy clear menu's etc

Any help you guys could give me would be excellent...

Thank you in advance

Regards
Carl

[dalecosp]

Hrm, don't you mean Delphi?

It's probably possible in PHP, without too much trouble as far as coding itself goes. I wonder, though --- why Delphi --- were they using Oracle?

Heh, anyways, I'd hate to have to write the CSS for it 😃

can't for the life of me think of the best way to start this.

The real question might be - "do we have the full picture, and a good plan"? With most projects, the real work happens in two places: the planning table, and the debugging chair. Both of those have little to do with languages, and yet, everything to do with them. If you know all the inputs and outputs, all the conditions, all the requirements, then the choice becomes clearer with more details in the picture (usually). And once you're debugging, it's too late to choose, so the planning becomes all the more important.

I'd think that quite possibly any of the big P's might work for this...probably PHP or Python would be preferable to PERL, though.