Data on Internet

C

Colin

Is it possible and practical to operate a database where the data is
held on the internet so that it can be accessed and modified by a
select few?
If so where should I start reading?
Would I nead any additional software, we are using Access 2000

Colin
 
A

Albert D. Kallal

ms-access is not a web system. It does not have web development features,
and is complete the wrong product and technology to use for the web.

You would no more use an auto-Cad program to write games for computers then
you would use ms-access to try and create web based systems. They are simply
different horses for different courses.

On the other hand, deploying and allowing users to use your ms-access
application anywhere anytime from any location via the internet is a 100%
DIFFERENT question then that of creating a web site. So, don't confuse the
issue of deploying your application so that people on the road, working at
home etc, or virtually anyone with internet access can be setup to use your
application. So

So, keep in mind what your actual goal here is!!!

is your goal to make a web based system, if yes, you must use web based
development tools and ms-access is 100% OF NO USE!

On the other hand, if your goal is to allow users anywhere in the country to
be able to use your application, then you can most certainly adopt some
technologies that allow you to achieve that goal, even WHEN using ms-access.

I explain some possible solutions for remote use over the internet here:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal//Wan/Wans.html
 
L

Larry Linson

Colin said:
Is it possible and practical to operate a database where the data is
held on the internet so that it can be accessed and modified by a
select few?
If so where should I start reading?
Would I nead any additional software, we are using Access 2000
Click to expand...

If you were using Access 2002 or 2003 (which had improvements to Data Access
Pages over what was in Access 2000, and goodness knows it needed some) you
could take a look at that technology. It is not something I'd recommend you
upgrade to be able to use, because it has always been very limited and never
"caught on". It is "deprecated" in Access 2007 -- you can run DAPs created
with Access 2002 or 2003, but you can neither create a new one nor maintain
an existing DAP.

You can use the tables, data, and relationships of an MDB database (or, I
believe, the new Access 2007 ACCDB) on the web, provided you create an
appropriate user interface to it... Front Page 2002 or 2003 with the
Database Interaction Wizard can create _simple_ web-based database
applications, but _simple_ is the operative term. Front Page has been
discontinued... it spawned two new applications, SharePoint Designer, for
use with Microsoft SharePoint, and Expression Web, for more general use.

As you'll find on Albert's site, you can possibly set up and use Microsoft
Terminal Services to remotely execute your Access user interface on the
server, provided you have Access installed on the server -- that's not
really "web-based" but you can access it via the web.

Finally, Microsoft's ActiveX Server Pages, .asp, or ASP.NET allow building a
web-based application, accessible from a browser, that can use data in an
Access MDB or ACCDB.

Now, if this seems that I am contradicting Albert, that's a wrong
impression -- Access itself is not a tool for creating web-based
applications; but, with appropriate tools to allow user interface, the
tables and data from MDB or ACCDB databases can be used in low-volume
applications.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Office Access MVP
 
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