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From: Nick Dokos <ndokos@gmail.com>
To: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
Subject: Re: Org-mode to feed a database
Date: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 13:06:22 -0500	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <87k31acov5.fsf@pierrot.dokosmarshall.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: E3C1E185-AB7F-478A-A864-CCD131BE5720@agrarianresearch.org

Vikas Rawal <vikaslists@agrarianresearch.org> writes:

> This is, in all likelihood, a crazy idea. Please excuse me for that.
>
> I often need to get a number of people enter complex survey data into
> a database using some kind of forms. The forms I need are fairly
> complex (with several nested grids, for example). I need radio-buttons
> and drop-down menus-equivalents.
>
> I was thinking if it would be worth it to use Org-mode for data entry.
>
> The idea would be something like this. We have a template org file
> that is copied for each survey respondent. The template contains
> “blank” org tables and some source blocks. Responses are filled into
> the org tables, and then the source blocks are evaluated to feed the
> data into the database. You can version-control the whole thing so
> that different people can create these records and push it to a
> centralised git repository.
>
> Has anyone done anything like this? What has been the experience?
>
> There are two aspects that immediately come to my mind.
>
> 1. Is org adequately feature rich for such a scenario? There are two concerns I can think of right now. 
>    1.1 Would feeding information from one Org table to another become too complicated?
>    1.2 Is there a way to build in tab-completion for columns in Org-table using pre-specified categories? 
>
> 2. In my case, people who would enter the data into org files would
> not have used emacs before. So, there is a learning curve. Is it worth
> it? Or should one just build a web-based graphic application for such
> people to use?
>

My knee-jerk reaction was: Use Django, not org - but that may be a
failure of imagination on my part.

-- 
Nick

  parent reply	other threads:[~2014-12-29 18:06 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 27+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2014-12-29  2:01 Org-mode to feed a database Vikas Rawal
2014-12-29 11:26 ` Marcin Borkowski
2014-12-31  0:14   ` Vikas Rawal
2014-12-29 18:06 ` Nick Dokos [this message]
2014-12-31  0:13   ` Vikas Rawal
2014-12-31 10:37     ` Conducting end user surveys and analyze data (was: Org-mode to feed a database) Karl Voit
2014-12-31 13:05       ` Ista Zahn
2014-12-31 13:40         ` Karl Voit
2014-12-31 13:49           ` Ista Zahn
2014-12-31 15:13             ` Marcin Borkowski
2015-01-01 16:22               ` Karl Voit
2015-01-02 10:53                 ` Marcin Borkowski
2015-01-02 14:04                   ` OT: Cloud-dependencies, privacy, decentralization (was: Conducting end user surveys and analyze data) Karl Voit
2015-01-03 21:19                     ` OT: Cloud-dependencies, privacy, decentralization Rasmus
2015-01-11 10:52                       ` OT: privacy-aware web search via startpage.com (was: OT: Cloud-dependencies, privacy, decentralization) Karl Voit
2015-01-20  6:49                     ` OT: Cloud-dependencies, privacy, decentralization (was: Conducting end user surveys and analyze data) Tom Prince
2015-01-20  9:19                       ` OT: Cloud-dependencies, privacy, decentralization Karl Voit
2015-01-02 14:15                   ` Conducting end user surveys and analyze data Paul Rudin
2015-01-02 16:51                     ` OT: Gmail and cloud-dependencies (was: Conducting end user surveys and analyze data) Karl Voit
2015-01-03  8:02                       ` OT: Gmail and cloud-dependencies Paul Rudin
2015-01-11 10:46                         ` Karl Voit
2015-01-11 12:14                           ` Paul Rudin
2015-01-11 14:55                             ` Karl Voit
2015-01-12  7:55                           ` Daniele Pizzolli
2014-12-30 21:15 ` Org-mode to feed a database Karl Voit
2015-01-04 22:05 ` John Kitchin
2015-01-05  3:39   ` Vikas Rawal

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