From that Access database, the administrator creates a report of all the
students who have achieved a passing grade in both classes. Merging the data is time
consuming, and often the Excel spreadsheets are created with different headings and
notes in individual fields, which makes the import process harder.
The administrator would like you to create a reporting system to make the process
smoother. She wants to replace Excel spreadsheets with a web form, but she is not willing
to give up her Access database. Therefore, she wants you to create a web-based entry system
with some way to automatically import the data into Access.
Fortunately, you can do this fairly easily with Ruby, Rails, and a few gems. The application
will be split up into two parts: a web interface to enter data and then serve the
data as XML, and a small, Windows-only, application that will go on the administrator??™s
desktop. When the administrator wants to update her database, she simply drags her
database onto the Update Program icon.
First, let??™s start creating the Rails application.
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