Rick,
I recommend
the red pill. FWIW, I am using ODBC with reasonably good results, but need
to give SquakDBX a try. There are also some native interfaces lurking
around, and they might be worth a look.
Polymorph is
probably a good choice for a GUI. See TEasilyThemed (a trait used in
IIRC ComposableMorph and StandardWindow). There is room for improvement,
but it is remarkably powerful once you dig into it.
A local
browser accessing Seaside is an option. Some have suggested that as an
ideal GUI framework, which, well,..., let's say that I disagree - that is not to
say that you should not use it. We need a good GUI framework, and
Polymorph is leading the pack right now.
Bill
I am a Java & .Net application programmer who has flirted with
Smalltalk for a long time without doing the "deep dive" to really understand
it. Pharo and Seaside are making me think that everything is coming
together now for another try. That and some micro-ISV ambitions to give me
a real reason to write some code outside of work.
For my type of project
I really need a db package and a gui package. That leads to the
questions:
1. Right now, is SqeakDBX my best choice for a db interface?
Sqlite is my db of choice for the project I have in mind.
2. For the UI, I've
been reading about the choices and I'm having a hard time finding a currently
supported project. Do I go with polymorph by default?
For the UI,
what about "self-hosting" a Seaside instance and doing the UI in the
browser? Ie, the app starts a Seaside server and opens a browser window
pointed at the apps main window (home page). Can that be done? Is it
a good idea?
I hope you can give me some direction. I like the
direction of Pharo and Seaside is just plain cool. I want to do this to
get my head outside the coding box I'm kind of stuck in. And have some
fun.
Thanks for any help,
Rick