Design Theory...using web pages as forms!

[comptechbranden]

Here at work we have access 97. My idea is to present to my boss a new way to go about the database. I tell him we need a copy of access 2003 and I use the pages function in it to make html files for people to load on thier machine for the database. This should allow me to have the much needed user friendlyness of access 2003 and all its features without the whole company buying office 2003 for every computer (although they should...)

As far as this working...Whats your opinion about it? Would this way of running a database work well? I am not to bad at html so thats not an issue either.

If you know of any related threads, you can post the link also.

Thanks.

 

[comptechbranden]

has anyone done this? is it easy to make reports open without access 2003? How would I do that?

 

[Sergeant]

Data access pages are crap.
You say you understand HTML, and if you use Access, you must know some VB. Put the two together and use ASP to build web pages. (You need access to a web server...or at least a computer capable of running IIS or PWS.)
There are a lot of tutorial web sites for ASP, start with ASP101

 

[comptechbranden]

Data access pages are crap.
You say you understand HTML, and if you use Access, you must know some VB. Put the two together and use ASP to build web pages. (You need access to a web server...or at least a computer capable of running IIS or PWS.)
There are a lot of tutorial web sites for ASP, start with ASP101

I dont have access to a computer...this file has to run on a network, and I found that with javascript I can make buttons and so forth that work like command buttons.

What do you think? Is it feasable or going to be hard? Look at all the benifits for me also...being able to use access 2003 and all...

 

[BobJones]

You don't have access to a computer?! Well how are you going to do anything with Access at all?!
Right.. as Sergeant says, you can install IIS (Internet Information Services), which is a free webserver from Microsoft, now you can have it running locally, so it doesn't even need to be accessible to the internet and the people at your work can just type in a local IP into Internet Explorer and it will show up.

Hmm... Using javascript for your buttons... How about just using a HTML form, as that has buttons ie...

 <input type=submit> blah blah blah

ASP.net is the best language for interfacing with Access I do believe.
It is feasible, I haven't done it myself but I doubt it would be too hard.

Bob

 

[comptechbranden]

I have access to a computer...I dont know what I was trying to say there. It was early

Anyways, I dont understand how the database will work over the network with no other computer having 2003 on it???

We do have a SQL server and we have linux servers. I need a way to do this without using a server if possible.

 

[TastyWheat]

Client-side scripting shouldn't have file writing/reading capabilities for security reasons. I highly suggest you stick with Access forms or use ASP. If you really want to use a web browser for entry then do a google search for "fpdbform.inc". It's pre-made code from Frontpage and it should provide all of the functionality you need.

 

[comptechbranden]

I dont know how to even do what they are asking for that task. They want me to use frontpage and I dont have it installed here at work...

I only have access to frontpage at home to make small tweaks here and there.

 

[DanG]

I don't know too much, but I would think if you have a SQL server you could have the database built for the backend and then make the frontend in ASP or PHP or whatever. All stuff I have no experiance with, but am currently learning MySQL/PHP because I have similar ambitions.
There are several discussions here regarding putting databases online that you can search on. And yet another area I don't know too much about...
It would seem to me that you could have 1 instance of Access installed/and run on the network and have users access the frontend on the network, but again I am not completely sure because we use Citrix here at work.

Hope this helps

 

[comptechbranden]

Yea, I am getting that notion. I just dont have any idea how to do it before I tell my boss 'YES, I can do it...buy the $200 software..."

 

[Sergeant]

OK, ten posts on this thread...and you don't seem to be any further along than when you made the original post.

1. I am assuming you run WinXP? If you have WinXP Pro, you can install IIS web server and serve up intranet pages from ANY of your networked computers.
2. You have SQL Server...is it running on an actual server? You can install IIS or another web server there.
3. ASP pages are not hard! They are very easy...I would be glad to get you started if you can just figure out whether you can run a web server.
4. ASP.NET is FREE!!!! You can download the framework, Visual Web Developer 2005 Express, or Visual Basic 2005 Express for FREEEEEE!!!!!

What can you do? We'll start there.

 

[Banana]

FWIW, I seem to recall an article not recommending Access for WANs, wifi LAN, or even across long VPN as it may corrupt the data. Don't know if that is accurate, but if OP is serious about doing it on web pages, I'd think he's better off with SQL, not Access.