Using a Access Data Page as a Web Page ?

[Linda]

I have a ADP Form (newbie person before me) for entering
data via the Internet (that is what I was told, but it
was never finished) - Is this correct, can I use this
Form thru the internet to an Access Database or do I need
to convert it to Front Page? How do I convert it? Do I
need to start over ???? I will get help for the
connection to the Access Database and publishing the Web
Page onto the Web Server......

Thanks for all your help !

 

[Allen Browne]

Hi Linda

DAPs are an interesting idea, but they don't really work very well, so we
generally don't use them.

If you want to learn about how they are supposed to work, this article
prints to 42 pages and should give you the idea:
Deploying Data Access Pages on the Internet or Your Intranet (Microsoft
Access 2002 Technical Articles)
at:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnacc2k2/html/deploydap.asp

 

[Bullschmidt]

DAPs are an interesting idea, but they don't really work very well, so we

generally don't use them.

And it's just the limited nature of data access pages that the user's computer
generally needs to be able to establish a client-side connection to the
database. That's why data access pages aren't really used much on the
Internet.

And for your info here is my take on putting a database on the Web WITHOUT
requiring the user to have a copy of the database on his or her PC.

Web Database Concept
http://www.bullschmidt.com/concept.asp

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 (such as classic 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/vb
scripttoc.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 (often works well for the admin area of a Web site) 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 Access and ASP Developer
www.Bullschmidt.com/Access - Sample Access Database
www.Bullschmidt.com/login.asp - Web Database Demo