[Tutor] python and MS Access db's

[dman]

On Thu, Mar 21, 2002 at 10:48:46AM +0000, alan.gauld@bt.com wrote:
| > I've got to do the same thing now at my new job....  are some
| > commercial (really expensive) ODBC drivers 
| 
| Somewhat off topic, but are these really that expensive? 

Around 2 grand (US).

| How much is your time worth? 

$10.50/hr :-).

| If it took you a week to roll your own driver would it cost more or
| less to your company than buying a ready built one?

Less.

| Especially if you include the lost opportunity cost of getting the
| product to market one week quicker too!

Ok, now I'll explain :

The company is a non-profit organization that provides training and
administrative support to missionaries.  You can learn about them at
www.iteams.org if you want.  My position is a co-op/intern in the
"Information Systems" department.  (there's 3 of us in this
department) This product is for internal use, not for sale.

The systems are a mix of Linux (RedHat) on servers, a couple NT/2k
servers, and a lot of Windows on workstations (and I think 1 Mac).
(Then add in the 2 Debian boxen I brought with me :-))  They used to
have everything in a MUMPS database, but are migrating off that now.
Most of the financial stuff is in a SQL Server database using a
commercial product.  Some info is in MS Access and some is in MySQL,
and they're looking at PostgreSQL too.  They want to integrate the
data more by providing easy-to-use web interfaces.  The existing web
stuff is HTML and PHP driven by Apache on the RedHat box.  It can get
to the MySQL and MSSQL dbs already, but can't get at the Access dbs.
All we need is to get at the Access db from the web server.  

I found that win32 python with the win32all extension can load an
Access db and perform queries right away (using odbc).  All that's
left is plugging in a middleware for controlling those objects
remotely.

Given the background, I think you'll agree that building my own
adapter is the best option.  I'll need to create IDL files and
probably a couple hundred LOC, and I want a ZOPE DA too.  My boss had
looked at zope, but without formal software education and time to
spend he didn't really get far with it.  I took a look at it, and I
"get it".  (BTW, it is _much_ easier to work with than J2EE!)  It is
likely that much of the new web stuff will be a mix of Zope, Python,
PHP, and Perl.

| Expensive drivers are relevant in pesonal use or academia but for
| companies who (presumably) develop software for sound commercial
| reasons buying "expensive" drivers is usually the cheapest option.

Yeah, if it was to be part of a commercial product, then buying an
existing piece would have many more benefits and the tradeoffs would
be different.

-D


PS.
    For those who are interested and not so familiar with english
    slang, "2 grand" is $2,000.

    "They" is primarily just my boss.  He's had extensive hands-on
    experience but no formal education with computers.  He is mostly a
    one-man show managing all the computer stuff here.  He, and the
    rest of the staff, are glad to have another geek around to help
    with the workload.

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