For my own personal use, I need to build a simple application that will be a front-end to a MySQL database – containing existing tables, queries, relationships and so forth.

Using Microsoft® Access, I could – and, in years past, did – do exactly this.

Lately, I tried to do the same with OpenOffice Base. (For various unrelated reasons, I really don't want to fiddle with its blood-sister, LibreOffice.)

What I'm finding is ... basically ... that "it is a toy." It doesn't even recognize that any existing tables exist. And so on.

Paradox® for Windows ... Microsoft® Access ... there were so many good tools. Where is the [free ...] non-toy application that I need to construct this very simple thing? (Without using "a web browser.")

I once got libreoffice base connected to a mysql db and was able to see any of the tables. My problem was the libre office base form generater was incredibly user-unfriendly and eventually I decided it was impossible to use.

I have since usually used php-based data grids but still haven't found any free ones that are halfway easy to setup and use.

One of the reasons Microsoft is where it is is because a lot of their software allowed non-tech users to create data, forms, and reports without needing to call in some programmer. A lot of the user-generated stuff was of questionable design, but did in fact work for the users who created the apps.

I still have a couple old Access data projects with custom db code that I've never ported to mysql, mostly because of the lack of an easy and effective front-end client in linux. My apps were written back in VB6 days so I have to keep a windows xp vm running to host it.

If you find a good front-end please update this thresd

Hi Sundial-

Maybe Navicat?

Good luck -
mtdew3q

Hi again Sundial-

For form creation there is www.ultimatepp.org, gridplus2, and freepascal ide.
I am going to start fooling with freepascal ide this weekend.

thx. -mtdew3q

Is there nothing out there that is simple?

One option that I certainly can fall back to is to set up a Windows machine, buy a copy of Microsoft Access, and maybe start paying ... y'know ... more attention, once again, to a software environment that really does have professional tools.

If you're happy to do the development work with a Windows application then take a look at AppGini Design your database, make it relational etc. and it can then generate all the PHP code, including code to initialize the database as well as pretty granular user/group permission system if you need it.

Oh, and while it's a Windows app apparently it'll work on Ubuntu with PlayOnLinux - http://bigprof.com/appgini/tips-and-...n-ubuntu-linux

I used it to put this together: https://forgotten80sclub.com/playlist/index.php

Well, I'm marking this thread as [SOLVED] because I finally did figure out why the list of ODBC tables was not appearing.

First, I learned that in OS/X you need to install a legacy version of the Java Runtime Engine (JRE), helpfully provided by Apple. (OpenOffice pointed me straight to it.)

I was trying to use the iODBC drivers on OS/X. It could connect, but couldn't see any tables.

Then, I tried to use JDBC ("Connector/J"), and, along the Google DuckDuckGo avenue of figuring out how to doing that, I stumbled into the fact that there is an OpenOffice Extension (installed using their "Extensions Manager" tool) which provides a native connection to MySQL. (Although the page is old, the software is not; the page is here.)

I found two extensions – one by Oracle Corporation, which is not maintained, and a second one by "aoo_my_sdbc," which is. They had a driver for Oo4.1. (Yay!) I downloaded this extension and installed it.

Upon restarting OpenOffice, and throwing away my old database altogether, I found that "MySQL" was now a connection-type and one choice was "Native." I picked it and crossed my fingers, and ...

And then, magically, the tables in my MySQL database appeared!

Now, Base is still a heap o' garbage compared to Microsoft Access (at least, that's still my opinion right now ... ) but maybe it beats paying about $250 for FileMaker, which otherwise seems to be about the only other database manager on the OS/X planet. (Inexplicably, so far as I know, Microsoft has never included Access in its Office suite for Mac.)

Kexi is supposed to be easy to use, if you want a graphical interface.

LO Base is probably an issue of style or taste. I myself also find it unusable and have not gotten past several barriers.

However, I did look at it one extra time because a friend set up a small businesses on it and while talking about other aspects commented how easy he had found Base to set up and use.

I found base itself with a mysql backend fairly easy to set up, but the data forms generator application was beyond user-unfriendly.