Programming questio...
 

Subscribe now and choose from over 30 free gifts worth up to £49 - Plus get £25 to spend in our shop

[Closed] Programming question

7 Posts
6 Users
0 Reactions
54 Views
Posts: 2050
Full Member
Topic starter
 

Hi,
Just trying to do something for my own interest and would like some suggestions.

I want to be able to store some simple data (Date, time, Customer code, score 1, score 2, score 3) to some form of spreadsheet/database via REST.

i.e. I will have this data in XML or JSON and will do a REST POST and want a new row to be created for each post.

Ideally the place where I post the data would be a cloud based service which would support access by multiple (authorised) users to view the data.

I think this might be possible using Google Sheets but am wondering if there are other, simpler options. The easier the better - I am not a real programmer 🙂


 
Posted : 29/11/2016 9:31 am
Posts: 251
Full Member
 

Multiple users accessing simultaneously?

Where will the code be running - in the cloud as a web page, on each individuals pc as a program?

Multi-user to me means you need a proper db like MySql but if it's sequential rather than simultaneous access then a csv or somethign might work - depends on data size to a certain extent.

Bear in mind anythign accessing cloud data from locally running code will probably need to use an API of some sort and may need firewall changes.


 
Posted : 29/11/2016 9:38 am
Posts: 91096
Free Member
 

You need a remote server of some kind to which to send your data. If it supports REST, you can use it - otherwise not. You don't get to choose, unless you write the server side code as well as the client side. Which is probably a good idea.

What you have described is a database, they are usually spoken to in SQL. But there are good reasons why you don't simply open your database connection directly to the internet to allow SQL to be executed.

But given you aren't a real programmer, then you are looking for a service that provides a database service that you can use via some API.. no idea where to look for that 🙂


 
Posted : 29/11/2016 9:42 am
Posts: 3735
Free Member
 

I'd use something like MongoDB to store the data, just write a quick web service to take the params and fire em in.

might just be simpler just to write that stuff to a CSV file though 😛


 
Posted : 29/11/2016 9:49 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

For once, I can actually recommend the thing I work on - [url= https://drupal.org ]Drupal[/url]!! 😀

Drupal 8 comes with REST endpoints for virtually everything, out of the box - no programming required. You will need to create a content type (using the web UI, not code) that reflects the data you want to store, then enable & configure the REST server and allow user accounts you have made to access it. (or, if you need, the anonymous user of course)

Might be a few hours work, all in.

You'll be able to try out a "throwaway" instance of Drupal 8, where you can make some example content types and play around for 24 hrs at [url= http://simplytest.me/project/drupal ]http://simplytest.me/project/drupal[/url]

Rachel


 
Posted : 29/11/2016 9:51 am
Posts: 2050
Full Member
Topic starter
 

Thanks everyone.
There will only be one system posting data (it is a post call survey application) and I would like it to be able to be read by multiple people. This could be as simple as viewing a web page.

The system that will be doing the REST POST is a hardened appliance so I do not think that I could store to a CSV.

I would prefer to use a cloud service so that it is quick to deploy and does not need OS skills to support.

I will check out the suggestions around MongoDB and Drupal thanks. Any more suggestions welcomed.


 
Posted : 29/11/2016 10:38 am
Posts: 4337
Free Member
 

something like [url= https://airtable.com ]airtable[/url] looks pretty nifty for the task

[url= https://css-tricks.com/use-airtable-front-end-developer/ ]article about airtable[/url]


 
Posted : 29/11/2016 10:45 am
Posts: 2050
Full Member
Topic starter
 

@trickydisco

Thanks Airtable does pretty much exactly what I hoped for. 🙂


 
Posted : 29/11/2016 3:36 pm