Hi,

I can just about bluff my way with HTML, CSS and ASP.NET but am by no means a programmer.

I want to create a dashboard desktop application that will display values from a SQL database and refresh them every ten seconds or so.

I am fine doing this using a browser that connects to an IIS server which runs ASP.NET pages to retrieve the SQL data and format it but now I want to display the information in a standalone application rather than a browser.

The OS of the client machines will be Windows XP or Windows 7 but if I could get it working with Macs/Linux so much the better.

I am wondering what I can use to develop these applications. Things like Google Gadgets and Windows Gadgets seem like contenders.

Has anyone used these? – if yes how easy are they for the novice and what OS limitations do they have?

If anyone can suggest other tools please do.

Thanks!

I suspect Java is your man.
Of course you could bodge something together easily with Perl. If you’re not tied to Windows then you could probably easily write an X app or even try curses.

But I think unless you can find something like google gadgets to do the job then Java is your man.

Google Gadgets will be dead easy if you’re used to HTML/Javascript. I think you’ll still be connecting to the IIS server to get your data though. If that’s fine, then you’ll probably find it pretty easy to pick up.

If you need to actually connect direct to the SQL, I’d probably use Python and wxWindows for the user interface. It is a lot less faff than Java to put together something, and much less other rubbish needed to get a simple app like this working. You can connect to most databases with python. It also does a slightly better job at looking like a proper Windows app than most Java apps, and also is usually a little bit faster than things with a Java user interface.

Joe

Thanks for the responses.

Am a bit scared of Java – it’s a proper programming language!

I can keep the IIS server in the loop if it makes things easier. One thing with Google Gadgets – it seems that Google Desktop needs to be installed for standalone gadgets to work which may be a no-no for the users.

I will have a look at Python – any other suggestions welcome

OK, why can’t the ‘app’ be in a browser?
That’d make it easy for you.

if you go for java do not buy “Java in a nutshell” to learn it…

If you have it working in asp.net then a .net windows app should be easy right? Easier than getting a whole new language right?

You’d have to wrestle with mono to get it on a mac, but then anythings going to be a battle for you anyway.

I’d also ask why it can’t be browser based? Then it’d just serve up html and work on all the named platforms.

Also consider how you serve data to the application, if it’s via a webservice then fine, but if each client can connect a session to your database then load could become a concern, 100 clients increases your db load significantly and defeats the object of a performance monitor.

I know this might be over complicating things slightly but I’m sorry it’s bred into me these days!

Personally you might well find a winforms app easy enough to create if you are familar with asp.net, but this isn’t likely to help your multi-platform approach.

Hi,

Thanks to everyone that has responded. It may help if I explain a bit more about what I am doing.

I am installing a contact centre system for a group of users. The software is good but does not have a usable wallboard/dashboard application out of the box to show calls waiting, calls abandoned etc.

This information is in a SQL database and I have used ASP.NET to pull information out of it and format it for a wallboard which is basically a web browser in full screen mode.

I have also developed a desktop dashboard which runs in a small browser window but I am not entirely happy with it as the window can be resized and it does not seem to be possible to hide the address bar in modern browsers (I am sure that this was not a problem back in the old Netscape Navigator days).

I was thinking that some form of desktop gadget might be a better way to do this. I think that the comments above about keeping the IIS server rather than querying SQL directly from the app make sense.

Would it be possible to create a custom app to query the web server using Visual Basic? – I am not at all familiar with the non web development system although I read that the Express version can only work with SQL Express which could be a problem as my backend is Informix.

I have found some information on Windows gadgets at the link below:

http://digitalpbk.com/windows-gadgets/how-make-windows-gadget-windows-7

This seems promising – has anyone developed Windows gadgets?

I’m thinking more and more you should look at a browser based app. Virtually all modern browsers can be made fullscreen nowadays.

You have the skills in this area already and even if you move away from the windows stuff, you can use PHP (which will work with informix) which you’d probably pick up really quickly given your experience.

Hi,

The full screen stuff works fine as a browser app but I want something that takes a small piece of screen real estate to display key metrics on user PCs. Gadgets from Google, Microsoft etc. would seem ideal for this.

The image below shows a Windows gadget that monitors CPU stats.

I would like something similar for my data.

Yeah, you could be right there.
Let us know how you get on. I’d be interested to hear what you find is best. 😉

Take a look at the Microsoft Expression series of products. It’s all data-orientated and even the free versions have a lot of potential.

I thought this thread was about programming – but then you mentioned visual basic 🙁

I guess that depends on if the OP meant VB or VB.net

I’m for hire from August for a month ish, I could do with a small project to fiddle with whilst we have our baby.

What’s your budget? 🙂

TurnerGuy – Member

I thought this thread was about programming – but then you mentioned visual basic

Many large companies have important systems written in VB. For example, several large banks have trading system front-ends written in VB.

Nothing wrong with it when used for the purpose it was intended.

Firstly its not in my comfort zone – if I was doing this I would do it in Python because its what I know (that doesn’t make it the best), and the route to do it seems simple. However the browser solution does seem easier for you:

I have also developed a desktop dashboard which runs in a small browser window but I am not entirely happy with it as the window can be resized and it does not seem to be possible to hide the address bar in modern browsers (I am sure that this was not a problem back in the old Netscape Navigator days).

Is it not possible to remove the address bar and scroll bars, and prevent resizing with some javascript (I’m quite rusty on that).

I think Windows gadgets are essentially HTML pages in disguise (in a zip file with a few extra information files), so it should be pretty easy to make your existing webpage to be a gadget.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb456468%28VS.85%29.aspx

Works on Vista and 7. For XP, you might have to do google gadgets, which I think aren’t HTML, so that is a pain. But they are javascript, so you should be able to do it without too much pain.

Many large companies have important systems written in VB. For example, several large banks have trading system front-ends written in VB.

That doesn’t mean that it is a good idea.

Some of them even use Excel as a production tool in the trading environment – unbelievable really.

Nothing wrong with it when used for the purpose it was intended

Basic is a beginners language, that was it’s purpose. To that end there is nothing wrong with it…

to quote one of the most famous ‘grandfathers’ of programming.

“the teaching of BASIC should be rated as a criminal offence: it mutilates the mind beyond recovery.”