Learn desktop business apps

[asawyer13]

I am new to LC. I learn best from examples, as complete examples as possible.

Does anyone know of a completed business desktop application that does something like order entry, sales, inventory, etc, and one that I could get source code for so that I could learn from it? Learn the best practices, and techniques?

I don't want to do animation or games, but data entry, invoicing, etc.

Alan

[Simon]

Hi asawyer13,
I haven't seen anything like a sales tool in any examples or revOnline. Not to say it couldn't be done in LC but I think you'll have to work it out on your own.

Big task ahead of you, even for a small tool. MySQl, addressbook, required fields, qty, cost per unit etc. each on their own is doable, combining them...Wow what fun! Well I suppose if you only had 5 customers and 5 products that don't require assembly then it would be easier.

I guess if you've used sales/account management tools before you already have a good idea of the fields that need to be made, the background math isn't that difficult (OH, except for international delivery tax! grrr). UI doesn't have to be great.

If I recall correctly I think the base is Inventory and everything spreads out from there.

Knock it out'a the ballpark,
Simon

[Janschenkel]

For my RunRevLive'09 presentation 'Desktop databases' I created an example application which you might find interesting.
It's in the downloads section of the quartam.com website; here's a direct link.

HTH,

Jan Schenkel.

[asawyer13]

Thanks everyone. I will take a look.

[asawyer13]

Jan, I have only looked at the PowerPoint slides so far, but I think this will help be tremendously.
Thanks again,
Alan

[FourthWorld]

RunRev's LiveCode Business Academy seems a perfect fit, well worth considering:
http://livecode.com/store/academy/livec ... s-academy/

[asawyer13]

I believe it's more mobile oriented.

[FourthWorld]

I believe it's more mobile oriented.

On closer review I believe you're right. Likely some useful stuff there, but there are many paths to learning LiveCode.

How well do you know SQL? For a business app like yours I've found relational data stores are usually a good fit, and LiveCode's support for SQLite is very good.

My personal favorite book on SQLite is O'Reilly's "Using SQLite":
http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596521196.do

There's a tutorial in the Resource Center to get you started using SQLite with LiveCode.

The tutorials in the "Text" section there also include some that'll likely be useful for the stuff you'll need to do, such as "Limiting the Number of Character During Data Entry", "Accepting Only Digits During Data Entry", and "Sorting a List".

And LiveCode's DataGrid will be a godsend for your UI, taking care of nearly any need you'll have for list displays.

Taking some time to play with simple experiment stacks before diving into your magnum opus may be very helpful. I've found it very liberating to play around in stacks that don't matter when learning new concepts, so when it comes time to apply them to my app I have a good understanding of how to go about it.

Please keep us posted on how your learning goes, and of course dive in here with any questions you have along the way.

[asawyer13]

SQL is no problem. I'm a SQL Server DBA by day... lol

I will be using sqlite and mysql for most of my LC stuff.

I will see what other resources I can find and go from there.

Thanks again everyone.

Alan