Using Web Services for Customised Data Entry

Scientific databases often need to be accessed from a
variety of different applications. There are usually
many ways to retrieve and analyse data already in a
database. However, it can be more difficult to load
data from different sources and in a variety of
formats (e.g. spreadsheets, other databases,
statistical packages). This can cause users to waste
a lot of time extracting, reformatting and
re-entering data.
This book focuses on developing a generic, platform
independent way to simplify the loading of databases.
The approach uses Web services as middleware to
supply essential data management functionality such
as inserting, updating, deleting and retrieval of
data. This functionality allows developers to easily
customise data entry applications for local user
requirements, data sources and data formats (e.g.
using VBA for Excel or J2ME for mobile applications).
If you need to provide access to a shared database
from multiple customised client applications, this
book will be of interest to you.

Autorentext
Yanbo Deng completed his Masters of Applied Computing from Lincoln University, New Zealand in 2007. He is currently studying towards a PhD in Software and Information Technology at Lincoln University. He has worked as an Information Systems developer for the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research.

Klappentext
Scientific databases often need to be accessed from a variety of different applications. There are usually many ways to retrieve and analyse data already in a database. However, it can be more difficult to load data from different sources and in a variety of formats (e.g. spreadsheets, other databases, statistical packages). This can cause users to waste a lot of time extracting, reformatting and re-entering data. This book focuses on developing a generic, platform independent way to simplify the loading of databases. The approach uses Web services as middleware to supply essential data management functionality such as inserting, updating, deleting and retrieval of data. This functionality allows developers to easily customise data entry applications for local user requirements, data sources and data formats (e.g. using VBA for Excel or J2ME for mobile applications). If you need to provide access to a shared database from multiple customised client applications, this book will be of interest to you.