Connect to MS Access from C/C++/PHP

Again Access... hey Access was a great database.

So if you are using access and you are thinking in how to use it from PHP or from a C/C++ app then you should check 

mdbtools. 

Does it work on iOS, well there is a discussion about at (http://old.nabble.com/Port-libmdb-(mdb-tools)-for-iOS-td34282658.html)  but I think there might be some licensing issues.

If that is the case I would recommend writting your own version of mdbtools, Take a look at https://github.com/brianb/mdbtools/blob/master/HACKING for detail info about the file format.

Connect to MS Access from C/C++/PHP

Again Access... hey Access was a great database.

So if you are using access and you are thinking in how to use it from PHP or from a C/C++ app then you should check 

mdbtools. 

Does it work on iOS, well there is a discussion about at (http://old.nabble.com/Port-libmdb-(mdb-tools)-for-iOS-td34282658.html)  but I think there might be some licensing issues.

If that is the case I would recommend writting your own version of mdbtools, Take a look at https://github.com/brianb/mdbtools/blob/master/HACKING for detail info about the file format.

Connect to MS Access from Java

This is not an scenario that I commonly find, but now with Android and with the spread of Linux base environments an devices you are just don't want to be limited to just one technology.

So I found this library which I found extremely useful and I can recommend: Jackcess

The following are some code samples from the Jackcess library

• Displaying the contents of a table:

  System.out.println(Database.open(new File("my.mdb")).getTable("MyTable").display());
  

• Iterating through the rows of a table:

  Table table = Database.open(new File("my.mdb")).getTable("MyTable");
  for(Map<String, Object> row : table) {
    System.out.println("Column 'a' has value: " + row.get("a"));
  }
  

• Searching for a row with a specific column value:

  Map<String, Object> row = Cursor.findRow(table, Collections.singletonMap("a", "foo"));
  if(row != null) {
    System.out.println("Found row where 'a' == 'foo': " + row);
  } else {
    System.out.println("Could not find row where 'a' == 'foo'");
  }
  

• Creating a new table and writing data into it:

  Database db = Database.create(new File("new.mdb"));
  Table newTable = new TableBuilder("NewTable")
    .addColumn(new ColumnBuilder("a")
               .setSQLType(Types.INTEGER)
               .toColumn())
    .addColumn(new ColumnBuilder("b")
               .setSQLType(Types.VARCHAR)
               .toColumn())
    .toTable(db);
  newTable.addRow(1, "foo");
  

• Copying the contents of a JDBC ResultSet (e.g. from an external database) into a new table:

  Database.open(new File("my.mdb")).copyTable("Imported", resultSet);

• Copying the contents of a CSV file into a new table:

  Database.open(new File("my.mdb")).importFile("Imported2", new File("my.csv"), ",");

Remember that if you want to use it android you use some tweaks:

"The following steps will make Jackcess compatible with the Android platform.

• Set the system property "com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.brokenNio=true"
• Set the system property "com.healthmarketscience.jackcess.resourcePath=/res/raw/"
• Copy the *.txt, *.mdb, and *.accdb files from the "com/healthmarketscience/jackcess/" directory in the Jackcess jar to the "/res/raw" Android application directory.
• Before executing any Jackcess code, set the current Thread's context classloader, e.g. "Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(Database.class.getClassLoader())"."

Simplify app deployment in .NET

WPF applications deployment on the browser using XBAP

HTML5 lets you deploy your applications everywhere

Embedding Windows Forms Applications in a WebBrowser using XBAP

In this post I will add references to other pages which do a great work on explaining how to use this approach to host a Windows Forms App inside a WebBrowser. 

The technique described here is a deployment solution to ease distribution of applications modernized from legacy technologies to Windows Forms, maybe using the Artinsoft\Mobilize.NET tools ;) 

NOTE: "This workaround of .NET Winforms to WPF and then hosting it in a browser isn't truly moving a Windows based application to a web based application. e.g. database calls will be made from inside the browser on the users PC to the database, not via the IIS server. Therefore this functionality is most useful if you have connected your Winforms UI to you back-end code using web services, then you can have a somewhat web based application."  

Adam Berent gives step by step instrutions:

http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/31429/Embedding-a-NET-WinForms-Application-in-an-Interne 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1: Example of Windows Forms applications running inside FireFox browser using an XBAP wrapper.

 

Some details that are missing in this article are related to how to publish the application on IIS, and these can described as: 

1. Create a test Certificate within Visual Studio and sign it against the project.  

The following links provides information on how to sing the xbap with your own certificate. 

http://ahmadreza.com/2011/05/20/how-to-sign-the-xbap-with-your-own-certificate/ 
 

2. Within VS publish the application. 

3. Setup the MIME encoding on the IIS server. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms752346.aspx 
 

4. Install the certificate on the Client PCs 

The certificate must be added in the trusted publisher and in the trusted root authority. If this is not done correctly you get the error 'Trust not granted' 

Embedding Windows Forms Applications in a WebBrowser using XBAP

In this post I will add references to other pages which do a great work on explaining how to use this approach to host a Windows Forms App inside a WebBrowser. 

The technique described here is a deployment solution to ease distribution of applications modernized from legacy technologies to Windows Forms, maybe using the Artinsoft\Mobilize.NET tools ;) 

NOTE: "This workaround of .NET Winforms to WPF and then hosting it in a browser isn't truly moving a Windows based application to a web based application. e.g. database calls will be made from inside the browser on the users PC to the database, not via the IIS server. Therefore this functionality is most useful if you have connected your Winforms UI to you back-end code using web services, then you can have a somewhat web based application."  

Adam Berent gives step by step instrutions:

http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/31429/Embedding-a-NET-WinForms-Application-in-an-Interne 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 1: Example of Windows Forms applications running inside FireFox browser using an XBAP wrapper.

 

Some details that are missing in this article are related to how to publish the application on IIS, and these can described as: 

1. Create a test Certificate within Visual Studio and sign it against the project.  

The following links provides information on how to sing the xbap with your own certificate. 

http://ahmadreza.com/2011/05/20/how-to-sign-the-xbap-with-your-own-certificate/ 
 

2. Within VS publish the application. 

3. Setup the MIME encoding on the IIS server. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms752346.aspx 
 

4. Install the certificate on the Client PCs 

The certificate must be added in the trusted publisher and in the trusted root authority. If this is not done correctly you get the error 'Trust not granted' 

Silverlight as a mechanism for simplification of application deployment

Embedding Windows Forms Applications directly in a WebBrowser

Figure 1: Example of simple Hello Word Windows Forms App embedded in Browser

Figure 2: Example of a more complex Windows Forms App consuming data from a Web Service

" However before using Windows Forms controls in IE, you need to be aware of the benefits and limitations. The main benefits include: 

•          The ability to deliver dynamic rich user experience through the Web 

•          Automatic caching of compiled code on the client 

•          Seamless integration with .NET Code Access Security that allows you to leverage the .NET security model from within the client side 

•          Improved performance over Java applets 

•           It requires Windows operating system on the client side 

•           Internet Explorer 6.0-9.0 is the only browser that provides support for this type of hosting 

•           It requires .NET runtime to be installed on the client machine. 

•           It also requires Windows 2000 and IIS 5.0 or above on the server side"