gui on web which too?

Question

I have a senior engineering project. Without giving too much detail what we are going to do is extract data from a machine (engine status, temperature, gas flow etc etc) and put that data on the web. What we want to do is be able to create an interface where the operator can access various information from the machine. in other words a GUI like system where you can click to see the various part of the machine and report its status. Also, control some settings like set temperature set points. We where thinking of doing this interface on the web so that anybody with privilege access could access the machine. The data being displayed should be updated automatically. That is live, not every time you press the refresh button. Also, the interface or GUI should be able to query a data base an generate graphs and what not. in short an applet type of system. What tool would you recommend and why to do this job. Price, easy of use and learning curve are important.

Answer 1

Sounds like to me you are going to want to use PHP for creating your interface. Then use MySQL (because it's free! and an industry standard) for your database. Using PHP to interact with the database is rather simple. You said "an applet type of system" meaning the use of Java, I am not sure Java is really needed to do this project( but it can be used instead of PHP, Java is just a little harder to interact with the database). The only reason I can think of to use Java is if PHP can not handle your data extraction technique. So all in all pick up a PHP/MySQL book or read from the thousands of free tutorials online and you should be on your way.