Production & Truck Schedule

[Koreno]

Hello everyone,

PREFACE:

I have been given the task of producing a production and truck schedule that can be viewed on an screen out in the warehouse. For now, I just wrote a few html pages. They are on our intranet and I trained the shipping clerk to update the html file with production updates. This works, but it time consuming for the shipping clerk.

Now my boss wants a search function. Our network is a basic home network with the intranet being on my PC. I have Apache, PHP5, & MySQL. Its all installed correctly I believe because I installed a PHP calendar that uses the database and it works.

MY THOUGHTS:

I am thinking the best way to accomplish this is in PHP. But I am a complete moron when it comes to PHP. The only PHP I have done is utilize the include command to use a common header and menu on our website.

I would like to be able to find a prewritten standalone PHP module that would utilize the server and database I already have installed. Maybe a form that would make an entry into a viewable table.

I copied one of the production sheets to out website and HERE is the LINK.

I have played with postnuke in the past so I feel as tho PHP is very powerful and would be the best way to do this.
-A single form to fill out that would make an entry into the database.
-Then have several tables that you could view utilizing this information in the database.
-A search feature that would allow us to search for a PO#, Customer, and more.

I would probably want to add a collumn for shipping company so we could search for that too.

If anyone know of anything or could point me into the direction I need to go it would be great.

Thank you all...

[bpat1434]

-A single form to fill out that would make an entry into the database.

Maybe, but how about updates? You'd probably want a few forms to update the information if there's something wrong.

-Then have several tables that you could view utilizing this information in the database.

Good. You know that the best way to keep some of the information is to keep it separate. Like your list of delivery companies (UPS, USPS, FedEx, DHL) in one list, and use their keys to reference them from other tables. Makes searching somewhat easier.

-A search feature that would allow us to search for a PO#, Customer, and more.

Not too difficult to implement. just have to know how to set up your databases and how to write good SQL.

My general idea would be to set up your databases like this:

customers
-- ID_CUST int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT
-- custName TEXT NOT NULL

products
-- ID_PROD int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT
-- prodName TEXT NOT NULL
-- prodDescription SMALLTEXT NOT NULL

shippers
-- ID_SHIP int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT
-- shipName TEXT NOT NULL

statuses
-- ID_STAT int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT
-- statCode TEXT NOT NULL
-- statDescrip TEXT NOT NULL

orders
-- ID_ORDER int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT
-- ID_CUST int(11) NOT NULL
-- PO VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL
-- SO int(11) NOT NULL
-- ID_PROD int(11) NOT NULL
-- quantity int(11) NOT NULL
-- BO int(11) NULL
-- ID_STAT int(11) NOT NULL
-- ID_SHIP int(11) NULL
-- tracking text NULL

Of course, that's all going off of your linked table. Something like that would be what I envision.

[Koreno]

Oh geeze, I think I'm in over my head... I dont know a thing about Making tables and lists and stuff in MySQL. Only thing I know about it is when I installed a Postnuke module and had to make a whole new database in phpmyadmin.

What should be my first steps?

1- Make a new database?
2- Add a table for each collumn? (how do you even do that?)

AFter the DB is set then I should start on the PHP entry and update forms?

Then search?

I am in WAY over my head but If I could get the help I need I could learn quickly and get this done.. 🙂

[bpat1434]

You should first sit down with a pencil and paper and write out exactly what you want, and how you want it. That way, you can come back and say here's a plan I have, would you go about it this way?

Here are my thoughts:
I would start off by setting up exactly how I want my site to work. When a user comes to the site, what will they see? Or what will be the end result displayed at the company?

Now that I know what will be displayed, how will I got about storing it? If I use a database, what might the schema look like. [I'd draw something similar to my above post].

I've got the end result, and the databases laid out. Now what about the front-end for user input? How about those forms? What information will I put on them? Can it be changed by a general user, or a specific one?

I'd finally ask myself about administration. Will there be an administration area, or will this be a wiki type of implementation where each person is able to add / contribute and update it as needed. Will I need user-access controls or a user management system?

Once I get all my ideas down on paper, it's then a matter of just sitting down and knocking out each block, one at a time. It's like whittling a piece of wood. You don't just start hacking away. You plan, you see the shape, and then you take little steps to get to the end result. You need to do much of the same here. You need to plan what it's going to be, then take some small steps in coding to make it to the big end result.

All in all, I see a few files right off the bat:
1.) Database file to hold the connection to and info about the database
2.) Display functions to hold the functions necessary for display inside the company
3.) User Input files to hold the different input scenarios (editing, updating, creating)
4.) User account management holding functions for creating, editing, updating, and deleting users
5.) Permissions functions to check whether the user has permission to perform that action

The list could go on and on, but that's just a start. And it's really very basic. Some of them could even be split up into smaller files so as to decrease load times.