Hi folks!

Most people would stop reading once they find out its a newbie question but for those of you who read on I could really use your help and/or just a piece of advice. I'll try to keep it short....TIA <img src=../images/dmxzone/forum/icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>

New to this forum and pretty much a newbie to dreamweaver/web development. I was hoping that someone could shed some light on Dreamweaver and its capabilities so I decide whether or not it is the program to be using for my companies needs. The boss came up and said out of the blue that he wants everything on a database. Dont know who hes been talking to but that seems to be his goal now...get everything on a database so we can have it available on a search...I assume its a concern to him just in case of any legal issues that may arise we can quickly search for items that have been sent/received. Since I have recently been learning about dreamweaver and database driven sites with tutorials I figured why not try doing the same with our office documents. Try Fax Transmittals for example, when someone sends out a fax transmittal I was thinking have a form setup with all the entries that will place it on the next "view" sheet of the actual Fax Transmittal that you can print and will also add the entries into a database. Is this something Dreamweaver can do or am I using the wrong program? Also can dreamweaver do calculations? We also wanted to do our office timesheets.

Another thing I would like to know is when to use what. I see that there is asp, jsp, html, xml, cgi, php, & a whole bunch of other types and some of these do the same thing but just dont know which is the best and most efficient to use. Can someone please tell me a little about these web extensions.

I would really appreciate it if someone could leave a link to some awesome tutorials that you have seen or even sites that will educate a beginner with basic knowledge.

In the meantime I will search this site for more info on this.

Thank!
Rob

First, Welcome to DMXzone.com
Dreamweaver MX is a great tool to create website with. ASP, PHP, Coldfusion, ASP.net etc. are programming languages that enable you to use a database. ASP works with an access or a SQl server, so does Coldfusion. PHP works with MySQL.

I cannot make the decision for you, I have worked with all of those languages except asp.net because it is so new. My own opinion would be to start with asp and sql server. Access is great for small applications.

Like I said, Dreamweaver MX is a great tool with some build in features to make coding easier for you.

Good luck.

Email me if you need more info.


Martha Graham

Indeed, with Dreamweaver you can create webapplications, to give you a quick overview of what people use Dreamweaver MX for:

<ul>
<li>Small websites</li>
<li>Complete Intranet solutions</li>
<li>Online shops</li>
<li>Content Management Systems</li>
<li>Workflow applications</li>
<li>Enterprise Portals</li>
<li>Business to Business and Business to client applications</li>
</ul>
And much more, for more info and pictures look here please:
dynamic.macromedia.com/bin/MM/showcase/scripts/showcase_cs_listing_by_query.jsp?product=Dreamweaver

What language to use best is subject to debate depending on who you talk to, but if you are a total newbie and you can afford it then, in my opinion, ColdFusion MX is the best way for fast and reliable results (why do i feel someone is going to correct me ?). And the language is kinda like english, for a recordset you would use &lt;cfquery&gt;, for sending mail &lt;cfmail&gt;, for file management you use &lt;cffile&gt;, etc etc.

Calculations and workflow forms can be done in most languages, but you might want to consider seperating your business logic from the presentation layer or in other words, use stored procedures to do your heavy tasks. You can use pre-defined database views which you setup to include invoice totals or total hours spend on projects for certain time periods.

I would almost say, the possibilities of Dreamweaver are only limited to your imagination and the capabilities of your application server (asp, php, cfml, etc).

with regards,

Dennis van Galen

Extension, Tutorial and FAQ's Manager

Thanks Martha! Thanks Dennis!

Although I am still confused on where to start your suggestions did help alot. At least I know now that I am still headed in the right direction and havent been doing everything for nothing. I have been taking the "cheap" route in learning all of this through tutorials but was contemplating on whether going to school would be better. I'll just keep going at it and we'll see what happens. Thanks a bunch you guys!

Rob

I started to learn from tutorials, then I took the dynamic webdesign class. Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks and UltraDev and that left me with good knowledge of the programs and the behaviors that come with it, UltraDev course went as far as downloading shopping cart extension and building a functioning ecommerce website. And I can still recommend following it, IF you plan to keep using UDev4.

I can't give comments on DWMX courses yet, but if they're upto Macromedia standards then they will leave you with the same knowledge of the products in question.

That reminds me, I need to change my poll about certification alittle.

I hope I answered your question.

with regards,

Dennis van Galen
DMXzone Manager

Extension, Tutorial and FAQ's Manager