Question

I have a Linux web server and I’d like to make some database tables (currently in Access) available on the web for CRUD. There needs to role-based security. What’s the quickest path to develop this?

Also, which database would be best? I already have mySQL running on that box if it makes any difference.

Answer 1

I agree with Chuck, the question shouldn’t really be about the language, but about the framework you choose.

I did something similar to you a while back, and ended up using Ruby on Rails, and the activescaffold plugin (http://www.activescaffold.com/) to provide a pretty front end. The actual code I ended up writing was extremely minimal. There are other plugins for Rails which provide role based security too (which I didn’t bother with, I just had ‘you’re either logged in and have write access, or you’re not logged in and you don’t’) and which also mean you don’t have to write much stuff yourself.

So put me in the camp for Rails come the religious war 😉

Edit: MySQL is a perfect database to use, so you don’t have to worry there.