Help at work, what language to use

I currently work for the state at a mental hospital. We're in the process of writting new GUI interfaces to pretty much all of our terminal based programs.

Would Java Applets be the best choice for this? VB is an option my phb's phb likes, but it'd be too much work updating everyone's computer with each code change.

We're in the process of "upgrading" from Win NT to WinXP, we have an intranet, and currently, we are using a server side scripting language for reports. (Intersystem's Cache, which is also our database)

Our database does have ODBC accessability, so interface shouldn't be too much of a problem.

They're pushing us to get the programs written, but I don't think the server side script has enough control over the interface for much of what we need.

Any ideas? Are java applets the way to go?

If you are considering Java, I recommend you to take a look at the Java Web Start. It has advantages of both Java Applets (easy deployment) and stand-alone applications (browser is not used to run them).

anythign GUI related should be done in MS products in my opinion.

take a look at .NET (vb.net and c#)
it will save you so much headache.
if your thinking java, u either have a lot of money and/or time to spend on the project.

if its just gui, do it in vb or something like htat

The price is a big limiting factor. Do you know where we can get .NET tools for uner $100 each copy?

What we need is a non-static GUI interface that can easily be instantly modified while being installed on over 700 machines. (no aplication pushes to the machines) And it needs to be cheap. Free for the clients, and no more then, say $100 for the development tools. Currently, we have nothing. Not even VB. The reason we don't have VB is the price.

Actually, even $100 would be pushing it. I had to bring in my own tools to see if java is a viable alternative. (CodeWarrior)

Thanks, mikkri, I'll look into "java web start."

Well, you are welcome.
Also I recommend you to consider Eclipse. It is free and have a lot of advanced features. And if you will use SWT instead AWT/Swing it will have almost native look and feel :-).
But as Kovan wrote good Java programmers may be expensive...

We're not hiring any new programmers. Whatever we choose, we have to learn ourselfs. One of the reasons I thought about java, was most of the programmers here know javascript, so they're at least a little familure with the language.

I just talked to my boss about java web start, and she seems to like it. Of course I have to spend the rest of the day gathering information on it now. Heh.

Hmm. What languages do your programmers know?
When thinking about Java it is better to think that it is light version of C++ than JavaScript.

Unfortunately, most of the programmers here only know HTML, Javascript, and Mumps/Cache.

Anyway I recommend you to study OOP and design patterns well (especially MVC, Adapter) before start. Java is a very OOP oriented and it is its most valuable power.

Oh, yeah, I've been programming in C++ for almost as long as it's been out. Heh. I think I'm the only one here that knows any real, modern programming languages.

But I have to think about my coworkers. Half of them are on the verge of retiring. I hope I can find some good books or tutorials that work at their speed.

BTW: Has anyone here used java for any kind of complex printing? One of the projects we had required that our multi-page printouts had standard headers and footers that were boxed in. Of course we couldn't meet the requirements with a web page, but that's the kind of thing we'd need to do.

Look at the JFreeReport at www.jfree.org. I have no experience with them, but their JFreeChart library is really great and free!
Also consider using Apache FOP (java edition) to generate PDF files on the fly.

few things.

1. Java is not even close to JavaScript (they really should rename this to something else)
2. Java is more close to c++ and c#
3. You best invest in a good compiler/designer (which will not be 100$)
4. If you absolutely have to use a free tool(under 100$). http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/ (free and open source)
5. learning curve for java is a lot higher than vb and .NET
6. now you have to take into account what platform u want this to run on, if its not windows only, scrap all the MS solutions i mentioned and stick with java(and god help you)

also, to do a project that will be deployed on 700 machines, again i have to say invest in a good designer/compiler and u will not regret it

to help us give you a better answer, tell us the scope of the project, your timeline, your resources and what platform u want it to run on, and how the you invision the project.
All these factors combined togather will help you decide the right path to take.
Also, for a project of the size u mentioned, u have a lot of methodologies to learn
OOP, UML and so on.

We're in the process of updating our system from a terminal based, roll 'n scroll system, to a GUI one. We'll be transitioning our programs one at a time so deployment may be once or twice a week, and must be done on the same day. We don't have any free FTEs to do this, so it must be automated. Development will start as soon as we decide (and purchase) what tool to use. It's a slow process that'll be going on for years.

The final application is a single application using menus or menu screens to navigate and perform the different tasks. (ie: admit an employee, transfer and employee, admit a patient, etc)

Our system is currently almost all WinNT, on 250-500 mhz machines. There are some WinXP machines.

Deployment is one of the biggest issues for us. (besides price) Our network here sucks to the point that just using web based solutions is starting to tax it. If users are using the app, and find a bug, we need to fix it within a few hours and get the new version updated to all the machines right away.

Thanks for the link! I just checked them out and this looks usefull!