Need database suggestions

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spinhouse247
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Re: Need database suggestions

Post by spinhouse247 » Fri Jun 12, 2009 6:45 pm

I'd look into sqltools.net for a decent free utility. After asking around thats the site I was told to look into...

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jfko6
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Re: Need database suggestions

Post by jfko6 » Mon Jun 15, 2009 12:24 pm

Word Press
http://wordpress.org/

That's how I blog on Lockergnome. Word Press is a powerful tool. Best of all it's free.
Word Press is a multimillion dollar company so they are reliable. At the same time
they will provide you all the tools you need to distribute accounts to users.
And you don't have to build much of anything. Though if you want to make dramatic customizations
those tools are available.
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kman
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Re: Need database suggestions

Post by kman » Mon Jun 15, 2009 12:45 pm

spinhouse247, thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out.

jfko6, Wordpress was one of the first things I thought of using. I used to use it for the "News" section of the website. It's a great blogging tool and I've had a lot of experience with it. Wordpress would be great for what we want to do with one huge exception - we wouldn't really be able to to maintain a proper database of all the nutritional info. For example, if we used Wordpress, we could have an entry for something like "Spaghetti w/Meat & Sauce" and it would have all the info in it. But all that info would be stored in one gigantic field. I'm really hoping for something that'll let me define fields for each thing - calories, fat, ingredients, etc. That way, you could do cool things like pull up a list of entrees, desserts, sides, etc - kind of a "build your own MRE" and then have it calculate all the combined calories, etc. That would be neat.

I know Wordpress will let you do some custom database stuff with custom fields but after just a couple of extra fields, that'll get complicated and ugly.

But you know, now that I think about it, I have to ask myself, if Wordpress will do 90% of what we want with it, is it worth it to keep searching for the perfect database solution? It's definitely something to keep in mind. Goodness knows the user control system in Wordpress would work great.

But then again...if I'm willing to go the Wordpress route and forego the database, why not just use phpBB (the forum software) and just create a new forum for Nutritional info. People could add new topics but we wouldn't allow comments. That's an idea, too. But I think Wordpress might give us more flexability. So many options!

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jfko6
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Re: Need database suggestions

Post by jfko6 » Mon Jun 15, 2009 1:42 pm

A database is nice. It does many things. However, maybe a simple spreadsheet will do the trick.
Google has free spreadhseet software in Google Docs. McDonalds maintains nutrition information
in a spreadsheet form and online. A spreadsheet might simplify things in the beginning and than as progress is made
perhaps a database can be utilized down the road. After all, you should be able to collect this info
from the food manufacture. And it will probably come in the form of a spreadsheet.

McDonalds
http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritio ... xchange.do
PDF
http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritio ... hanges.pdf
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calixtesaint
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Re: Need database suggestions

Post by calixtesaint » Sun Sep 12, 2010 9:25 am

I'd like to know if the database has been set up.
I have 'ingredients' from packages that I have eaten but friends ask about the list of ingredients from some I have never tried.
Easy to get the percentages of daily allowances, but I for one would love to know the ingredients of the entrees and sides.

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Re: Need database suggestions

Post by Cracker » Sun Sep 12, 2010 10:11 am

I'm thinking about more information, especially about the civil, humanitarian and foreign rations.
Simply have some members to photograph as much foreign ration parts etc, and offcourse the ingrediënts.
After this, run the picture through a .pdf writingrecognizer.. and put it as info. Most industrial copiers have this function these days, so I guess it can be downloaded somewhere aswell.

We also made a "list" (or atleast tried to..) for what international rations are allowed to be shipped abroad.
We might "indentify" all rations, and flag rations as safe to send to certain destinations. Especially looking at the US, EU and Japanese importlaws. I think that would cover everything.

This should be doable with the help of the members.
Sure, someone may one day kill me with my own gun.
But they'll have to beat me to death with it because it's empty.

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kman
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Re: Need database suggestions

Post by kman » Sun Sep 12, 2010 10:30 am

I haven't made any progress on the database idea. It's still a great idea and anything from an accessible online database to a shared spreadsheet might do the trick. Goodness knows I have the nutritional information from enough MRE parts and pieces saved up!

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ak70g2
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Re: Need database suggestions

Post by ak70g2 » Wed Sep 15, 2010 8:58 am

Ever think to use Microsoft Access?
'cuz hunting ain't catch and release...

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kman
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Re: Need database suggestions

Post by kman » Wed Sep 15, 2010 9:24 am

I've thought it - either Access or another local database program would be easy to use. The problem is how do you share that information and make it accessible via the web - especially in a setup like I have with MREInfo.com where it's not hosted on a dedicated server that I own.

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kman
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Re: Need database suggestions

Post by kman » Fri Sep 17, 2010 3:29 pm

Moving this conversation over to a new thread:

MRE Nutrition Facts Database...going beta
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3962

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