Approaching Omnis again scares me, too much to learn?

Thu Jan 4 09:46:39 EST 2018

I would add developing solid reconnect code to this list. Eventually, users will want to access their data over a remote connection. That this connection will fail is a matter of "when", not "if". Your code for communicating with the database needs to be able to detect and report a disconnected session and potentially reconnect to your database. But more important, your application needs to expect database calls to fail and then handle those failures gracefully.

This is where RESTful data access really shines. RESTful APIs bring a paradigm shift of how you model and interact with your data. Endpoints and HTTP verbs are not the same as DML and SQL relations. But the real advantage is that RESTful communication is (mostly) non-stateful and doesn't require a persistent TCP connection to a server to maintain a database session. This means that if you 1) make a successful call to the server, then 2) the next call is unsuccessful because the network is down, you can 3) retry and, assuming the service is back up, get the exact same data. No logons, no sessions, no hung TCP sockets. This also _really_ shines for scaling your application and managing failover between servers.

It doesn't sound like you're planning to operate at this kind of scale, but IMHO you won't get far without running into at least remote data challenges. The modern "3 tier" approach of database -> api -> application evolved to meet user expectations for alway-available data accessibly across any device. Omnis can definitely be a part of this, but perhaps not all of it. That's a discussion for another thread, but for your immediate challenge, try integrating Omnis with an existing RESTful web service to play with and learn Omnis as a front end. Or, if you want to keep your DML skills, wrap DML calls into a Omnis-based web service and try using another client to access them. For basic development try a fancy RESTful API client like Postman, then take your pick of any front-end, including Omnis to build a GUI.

Like anything, find a project, tear into it, and learn by doing. The internet was built by and is run by our fellow geeks, and we love talking about problems and solutions. In 1995 a small office, LAN-based vertical market application could be solved by a single tool and managed by a single developer. You can still be a single developer in 2018, but you have more tools from which to choose and you can take advantage of the fact others have solved the problems you've encountered before. Instead of trying to approach "modern" Omnis development and understand it as a whole, start with a specific problem or project and learn how to best apply Omnis and other technologies to it.

We'll be here to help!

Alex

P.S. And don't forget to add tests so you're not burning your time fixing bugs! ;) (https://github.com/suransys/omnistap <https://github.com/suransys/omnistap>)

> On Jan 3, 2018, at 23:56, Chris Ross <chrisross at caliach.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> DML to SQL. I have been through that process on our 35Mb ERP system (58 clients around the world - 3 to 45 users) and it has been a long and painful process. Some key points from our experience:
> 
>  *   Do the research first. I took over a year off to do that alone, but it did pay off!
>  *   The actual conversion took over 2 years.
>  *   It's not just DML replacement, more tricky is removing the CRB (current record buffer, e.g Load from list, etc. and reports.)
>  *   Make sure you re-write for Transactions (begin - commit - rollback) from the start as they are hard to re-structure for later.
>  *   Be prepared for client resistance to upgrade. DML is much simpler. Large sites gain more than small ones from SQL. We took the approach of no program functional changes (so testing was easy) but to clients "if there is nothing new, why the hassel?" Don't expect to make money from upgrading clients.
>  *   You and your staff need to be willing and capable of supporting a more complex internal beast. We missed that as a risk factor leading to at least one nervous breakdown (I joke not!)
>  *   Having gone through the pain, the results are worth it. Much more reliable, super-fast, coherent code, expandable and scale-able.
> 
> Best regards, Chris
> 
> ________________________________
> 
> Chris Ross, Managing Director, Caliach Ltd
> Cedar House, Vine Lane, Hillingdon, Middlesex UB10 0NF, England
> Web: www.caliach.com <http://www.caliach.com/><http://www.caliach.com/ <http://www.caliach.com/>>  Email: chrisross at caliach.com <mailto:chrisross at caliach.com><mailto:chrisross at caliach.com <mailto:chrisross at caliach.com>>  Tel: +44 1895 230203  Fax: +44 1895 230233
> Mobiles (UTC + 6/7): +44 7703 535994, +66 8713 62010, Skype: chrisrosscaliach
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> On 03/01/2018 15:15, Plum Hollow Software wrote:
> 
> Hi Wendy,
> 
> I’m in the same position as you, I have a lot of small clients anywhere from 1 to 15 users per client.  The DML is a perfect solution for these clients however Omnis Software told me to move to SQL because DML support and enhancements are not there focus.  So I have to decide whether or not to continue paying for my developer program.
> 
> Randy
> 
> 
> 
> On Jan 3, 2018, at 5:19 AM, Wendy <wizardcompserv at gmail.com <mailto:wizardcompserv at gmail.com>><mailto:wizardcompserv at gmail.com <mailto:wizardcompserv at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
> Hi There
> 
> Happy New Year!!
> 
> Most developers will call me a dinosaur!!  But my business has always concentrated on the 'small' users - they do not have an IT department - they do not want or need SQL or Web based products.
> 
> You will not earn a fortune this way but there are a lot of small business out there that need this kind of support and consultancy and they have kept me going for the last 18 years and I am still getting enquiries from new customers.
> 
> Just my 2p's worth for 2018
> 
> Kind regards
> Wendy Osbaldestin
> Wizard Computer Services
> Tel:  01260271647
> Mobile: 07740541021
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: omnisdev-en [mailto:omnisdev-en-bounces at lists.omnis-dev.com] On Behalf Of Das Goravani
> Sent: 02 January 2018 23:55
> To: OmnisDev List - English
> Subject: Approaching Omnis again scares me, too much to learn?
> 
> 
> Hello All,
> 
> I am RE approaching Omnis with a view to becoming a developer/consultant to businesses.
> 
> I am completely expert with Omnis and the native database it provides, but don’t know SQL or anything else, I only know Omnis. I don’t know any other language at all.  I go back to 86 but haven’t done anything for ten years.
> 
> It’s scary enough to have to learn SQL and how to connect to databases.  But all the stuff you guys and gals discuss here and on the other forum scares me.  How did you all learn all about Java and Jason and Restful etc etc.  How do you keep it straight in your heads?
> 
> My real question is this:  If I could learn SQL and how to setup and maintain backends and the connectivity, is that enough to be a consultant today?  I imagine right away the next point is that businesses will want phone access apps, tablet apps, to access their databases and then I’d be looking at Javascript which I don’t know.
> 
> At age 57 and reapproaching, I wonder how much time it takes to learn these things and begin consulting.
> 
> Are all these fancy other things smaller than Omnis learning itself?  I sure hope so.  It took a good while to learn Omnis.  I’m very good at Omnis but only Omnis Native. Don’t yet know what a Schema is, but I can do notation to control anything, I can do complex interfaces and handle complex data.  Just dont know anything else.  Do any businesses still go for using the Native Datafile?  With that I’m ready already.
> 
> One reason I want to learn SQL is to earn more.  The businesses for which the Native datafile is appropriate are smaller and poorer.  I believe you can charge more to the SQL requiring businesses.  Comments?
> 
> Is the "Lone Developer" still possible?   You all seem to be in teams.
> 
> Just scared badly.   Any help appreciated.
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