[GNC] Simultaneous Users? Cloud Access? Split FE & BE?

Mon Oct 26 09:12:43 EDT 2020

 Thanks Will. 

That is more or less what i was talking about when I talked about "splitting" a Microsoft Access database so the data was on one computer (the server) and the user interface with the Microsoft Jet database engine, custom queries, data entry forms, reports, etc was on another. 

Ditto for writing the html/php/java script code for storing and retrieving data from an online Microsoft or Linux host computer/server.
When this division of ~data and ~code occurrs properly you can have multiple users access and, with proper protections, manipulate the data at the same time.

Regarding GnuCash... I view it, more or less, as two parts...1 - the code to get, store, manipulate, retrieve, and present the users data to the user2 - the actual data itself... which I think is in XML.(There are other ways to see the GnuCash "parts" of course.)
With that "model" in mind I guess I was wondering if provisions had been for the data to be split off, stored on a server, and accessed by multiple users... each with their own "front end" (as I call it)
All that said, I guess I know enough to be dangerous :-)

As someone mentioned I should probably have read the FAQ's and other stuff before I posted this question.
    On Monday, October 26, 2020, 1:06:59 AM EDT, will at theprescotts.com <will at theprescotts.com> wrote:  

 Just to chime in on the terminology...

In my current job I do back-end development for an NGO. We have another developer who works on the front end and a couple people working on a mobile app.

The back end is an application that runs on an Amazon Web Service instance. The front end is a web app that users use to communicate with the back end. The data is stored in a data base that the back end talks to. The back end has an API (Application Programming Interface) and the front end and mobile app both make https calls to the back end to talk to it as well as using some other protocols.

I believe this structure is common and what most developers have in mind when they refer to a back end and a front end. Stand alone applications like Gnucash probably would not normally be considered to have a back end or front end.

Will

On 2020 Oct 25, at 10-25 21:11:11, Fran_3 via gnucash-user <gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:

Thanks Jim. Regarding Front End and Back End... 

When I used to develop Microsoft Access databases I would split it such that...- All the data was stored on a local peer-to-peer server. We called that the "Back End"
- The "Front End" would have the user interface with the queries, data entry forms, reports, etc. And, if I remember correctly, this could actually be different for each user of the mdb database so some people had easy access to certain things... like data entry only, etc.
In recent times I've been developing online databases with MySQL and PHP. In this case the "front end" would be the queries, etc coded in PHP while everything else would live in a MySQL database on the web server.
At least that is the language I've used to describe things to myself.

  On Sunday, October 25, 2020, 4:37:26 PM EDT, Jim DeLaHunt <list+gnucash at jdlh.com> wrote:  

On 2020-10-25 08:29, Fran_3 via gnucash-user wrote:

> - I have always considered GnuCash as a program that must be installed on the local machine.
> - With the myBiz.gnucash file also on the local machine.
> - This means that two users can not open GnuCash on their respective machines and access the myBiz.gnucash data file at the same time...
> 1 - Right so far?
> 2 - Am I also correct in assuming that the gnucash.exe is essentially the data base's front end while myBiz.gnucash is the back end containing all the data?
> 3 - If so is there anyway to keep the back end with the data (myBiz.gnuCash) in the cloud and point the frond end on your local machine (gnucash.exe) to the data stored in the cloud... like maybe stored on MyDrive at Google or where ever?
> Thanks for any help.

Fran:

There are Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about "Multiple Computers, 
Users, ..." 
<https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/FAQ#Multiple_Computers.2C_Users.2C_...>. 
You will find some answers there, especially to your questions 1 and 3.

Also, Stan Brown's Oct 12 answer 
<https://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-user/2020-October/093577.html> 
to your question, "Re: [GNC] Will the file myStuff.gnucash work on Linux 
& Windows machines?" is relevant.

Regarding the terms "front end" and "back end", in software engineering 
they have specific meanings which don't line up with your question #2. 
In general, all of your bookkeeping information (transactions, balances, 
chart of accounts) is stored in your book file, myBiz.gnucash, and none 
is stored in the GnuCash.exe program. Some of the data you rely on when 
using GnuCash, such as your preferences, custom reports, etc., are in 
preferences files which are neither in your book file nor in the 
GnuCash.exe program. The "multiple computers" FAQ linked to above talks 
about this a little.

Best regards,
      —Jim DeLaHunt, Vancouver, Canada

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