Can I develop an iPad app that connects to a remote mysql database?

[Godzuki]

I'm a windows application developer, I'm recently learning how to develop for iPad and iPod touch/iphone. I've done lots of programs that can read and write data into tables of a MySQL database. However I don't know if that is possible on the iPad. I have seen some mysql clients, so I guess that is actually possible to develop an app that allows me to access data on a mysql database and insert/update/delete records from it, using a personalized front end. I'm making a program to take attendance and homework's from students in a local high school. I'm already finishing development for windows 32 bit and I would like to make an iPad version of it. Is this possible? Can I create forms on iPad and access a remote database (MySQL) and use the stored data there?

Thanks for the help.

 

[MikesTooLz]

Yes you can.

If this needs to be a secure connection then it will be much more difficult. If its not needed to be secure, you could simply create a PHP script on your web server that accepts variables to be passed to it. Then all you would have to do is grab the webpage for your url with the custom variables to be passed along. Results could be passed back if needed.


Securely connecting to the database would require you to make the app actually make its own connection to the database and would be 10 times more involved.

 

[joeyteel]

Yes you can.

If this needs to be a secure connection then it will be much more difficult. If its not needed to be secure, you could simply create a PHP script on your web server that accepts variables to be passed to it. Then all you would have to do is grab the webpage for your url with the custom variables to be passed along. Results could be passed back if needed.

Securely connecting to the database would require you to make the app actually make its own connection to the database and would be 10 times more involved.

You can make a secure connection through a script just fine, in fact it's easier that way as long as you know what you're doing and secure the server and the connection properly.

Based on what the OP said about a win32 client though I'm guessing that using a MySQL client library wouldn't be an issue

 

[Godzuki]

I'm afraid that I didn't explain the question properly.

I created a program that runs on windows 7 32 bits using Delphi 2010 and Devart MyDAC components. MyDAC allows my program to connect and query the database without the need to install a mysql client on the client pc. For the end user is transparent. Can I create an iPad app that may connect to the same database on mysql?, not a php page, not a web service, just an app that is able to connect to a database on a remote server (I'm using ubuntu server 11.04)

I want to program an simple app that may insert/update/delete records from a database. If the iPad cannot do this task, I may question: may the iPad handle databases at all? and if that so, how does it do it?

 

[joeyteel]

I'm afraid that I didn't explain the question properly.

I created a program that runs on windows 7 32 bits using Delphi 2010 and Devart MyDAC components. MyDAC allows my program to connect and query the database without the need to install a mysql client on the client pc. For the end user is transparent. Can I create an iPad app that may connect to the same database on mysql?, not a php page, not a web service, just an app that is able to connect to a database on a remote server (I'm using ubuntu server 11.04)

I want to program an simple app that may insert/update/delete records from a database. If the iPad cannot do this task, I may question: may the iPad handle databases at all? and if that so, how does it do it?

Actually, if I remember correctly, MyDAC links a static MySQL library into the EXE, which you would have to do that or use an existing MySQL framework, as I assume you don't want to write a MySQL protocol library from scratch.

 

[Godzuki]

Yeah, I don't want to write a framework to work with MySQL, yet I assume that there are some free/commercial ones out there.
I'm still learning php, and seems like a viable option instead of starting to write code on a device that has it's limitations regarding MySQL usage.