Posted by darwinist on 12/19/05 03:56

shahram.shirazi@gmail.com wrote:
> Hi
>
> I am looking to develop an application that provides decision support
> through various graphs and charts using a mysql backend. My problem is
> between the data collection and data represenation. I would have a
> handheld device with a database application on it to collect data, this
> data (in a csv file most probably) would be transferred wirelessly to a
> pc, which then would need to be uploaded online and loaded into the
> correct mysql table so that any graphs would update their
> representation of the data.
>
> I am pretty new to this stuff so please bear with me but I guess the
> first step would be to have a script to detect the creation or
> modification of a file by the name xxx. However what would happen next?
>
> How would the file be uploaded online and how would it be automatically
> loaded into a particular mysql table?

PHP is probably best suited to handle the db and web server, but for
automatic wireless transfer of specialised data from a client handheld,
you're probably better off finding a scripting language designed for
that PDA's operating system.

Probably the easiest way to make sure your PHP server software can
handle your PDA's transmissions, is to write your sender app to frame
all data sent from the handheld as HTTP. Then the server will treat it
as any other web-page request (e.g. a user submitting a form of
information through their browser). This is probably not the most
efficient way, though, since much of the HTTP overhead probably won't
apply to the data you're sending.

> Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Hope you find something useful in the above steaming pile of roman
characters.

> Many thanks
> Shahram

[Back to original message]