Access to database on web server 2

[RobCPA]

I've been programming in VBA and SQL for a few years, but am new to ASP and web programming concepts. I'm creating my first ASP page with an Access table as the database. I can figure out how to get data from the database to the web page and also to save data from the web page to the database.

I'm wanting to access that same database from my desktop to run queries, reports, etc. from the data that I've captured from the web responses. I'm just not sure how to do that since the database is sitting on the web server. Obviously there has to be a better way than to pull the database down from the web server to my desktop.

 

[shaddow]

You cant access your database directly to your web site if thats an Access database.
You can if you have access to a share path where database it is.
I cant see any other solution then manual copy, as you mentioned it.

________
George, M
Searches(faq333-4906),Carts(faq333-4911)

 

[ralphtrent]

What you can do is create an ODBC Connection on your local machine pointing to that database. And then in Access link to the tables using the DSN.

Ralph

 

[Bullschmidt]

Here is something I put together about ASP that hopefully might help somehow.

You and others can have access to a database hosted on the Web from any location that has a browser with an Internet connection.

The Web database concept makes sense if you and your people want to do work in various locations in or outside the office and still be "plugged" in.

For example you could have employees enter timesheets or have sales reps log their contacts. Or perhaps you'd like customers to be able to check the status of their orders online without having to call the company.

If you want a Web database, typically what would happen is that a database such as Access or MySQL (basically just consisting of tables) would be put on the Web.

Then "dynamic" Web pages (actually ASP pages which include VBScript, HTML, and/or JavaScript) would be created acting like the old desktop database's queries, forms, and reports to access the database - all hosted on a Web Server.

Dynamic Web pages are similar in many ways to regular HTML pages. But they are "live" because the user can read from and write to information in the database. An example where you can login and add, edit, or view fictional customers and invoices is at

http://www.bullschmidt.com/login.asp

Not all Web hosts will handle dynamic Web pages but many do. The Web hosts that can handle ASP pages usually have a Windows 2000 or Windows 2003 operating system running an IIS Web server.

Here are a few good ASP sites:
o ASP101 Samples -

http://www.asp101.com/samples

o W3Schools ASP Tutorial -

http://www.w3schools.com/asp

o Microsoft VBScript Language Reference -

http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting/default.htm?/scripting/VBScript/doc/vbscripttoc.htm

And the following newsgroup is good:
microsoft.public.inetserver.asp.general

Or for a "quick and dirty" generic ASP open source solution to putting databases on the Web that just requires setting up a configuration page for each table or query and uploading the database to the Web as long as there is an autonumber field in each table (and you'll probably also separately want to create login capabilities), perhaps try something like this:
GenericDB by Eli Robillard

http://www.genericdb.com

and then click on the Tips link to see an example


Best regards,
J. Paul Schmidt, Freelance ASP Web Consultant

http://www.Bullschmidt.com

ASP Design Tips, ASP Web Database Demo, Free ASP Bar Chart Tool...

 

[RobCPA]

ralphtrent: I was thinking about the ODBC, but until you posted I didn't realize that you can create a system DSN pointing to a web address. I haven't been able to test this yet, but I think that your suggestion will work.

Paul: Your post is a good overview. It's a bit of a learning curve to go from Access development to the web, but it's starting to come together. I'm actually having work projects now which should help solidify my knowledge.

Thank you.
Rob