Access Database Online?

[xmp333]

Hi,
I have read the MS documentation and researched this matter, but I
could not find the answer to my question. If this is online or in a
FAQ somewhere, I apologize in advance.

How difficult would it be to host an Access Database online so that
people who visit the web site can read and modify the database? I
know one can create data access pages, but those are read only.

We're not hosting our own web site, but are using a provider that
offers Windows and Unix options. I assume that we'll want a Windows
host for any server side support (ASP?). What else would be involved?
Any pointers to documentation regarding this?
Thanks in Advance.

[Fletcher Arnold]

<xm****@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:4a**************************@posting.google.c om...

Hi,
I have read the MS documentation and researched this matter, but I
could not find the answer to my question. If this is online or in a
FAQ somewhere, I apologize in advance.

How difficult would it be to host an Access Database online so that
people who visit the web site can read and modify the database? I
know one can create data access pages, but those are read only.

We're not hosting our own web site, but are using a provider that
offers Windows and Unix options. I assume that we'll want a Windows
host for any server side support (ASP?). What else would be involved?
Any pointers to documentation regarding this?
Thanks in Advance.

Who told you data access pages are read-only? They are intended to allow
viewing and editing. If you have a copy of Access then you could start with
the help files for DAP - however my advice would be to ignore them and use
ASP. Hand-coded ASP pages will give you the most flexibility for putting
your database online - but can involve a vast amount of code if you intend
to replicate the workings of an averagely complex Access database. It's not
too bad if there are only a few tables.
If that sounds like too much work, you could see if your host supports Front
Page server extensions - which may take some of the coding work out of the
project - but I would go straight to ASP / ASP.Net.
In any case, this newsgroup is probably not the best place to start - try
the ASP websites / newsgroups first.
Fletcher

[Larry Linson]

Access Data Access Pages are not read-only. But they do have limitations --
the user must be using IE 5.5 or later and have the Office Web Extensions
loaded. For Office XP, those are a free download from Microsoft.

Other approaches you can use are: the Database Interaction Wizard with
FrontPage 2002 or later, ActiveX Server Pages (.asp or ASP.NET), or a
third-party product such as Cold Fusion.

You do not use Access itself with any but Data Access Pages; what is, for
convenience, called an "Access database" is, in fact, a Jet database (Jet
being the default database engine that comes with Access). With .asp, the
most common way to access it is via ADO, with ASP.NET, ADO.NET.

There are newsgroups dealing with each of these technologies and coverage of
the Microsoft ones at http://www.microsoft.com, http://msdn.microsoft.com,
and http://support.microsoft.com, as a start. There also are many other,
independent and third-party sites that deal with web database applications.
You can check to see what newsgroups your news server carries, or the online
access at http://groups.google.com, or the free news server at
"news.microsoft.com".

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP


<xm****@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:4a**************************@posting.google.c om...

Hi,
I have read the MS documentation and researched this matter, but I
could not find the answer to my question. If this is online or in a
FAQ somewhere, I apologize in advance.

How difficult would it be to host an Access Database online so that
people who visit the web site can read and modify the database? I
know one can create data access pages, but those are read only.

We're not hosting our own web site, but are using a provider that
offers Windows and Unix options. I assume that we'll want a Windows
host for any server side support (ASP?). What else would be involved?
Any pointers to documentation regarding this?
Thanks in Advance.

[xmp333]

> Who told you data access pages are read-only? They are intended to allow

viewing and editing.

When I created the data access pages, I was not able to modify data,
only view it. I tried navigating the Access help system, but it's
even worse than previous versions of Access, so I finally gave up and
assumed that data access pages were read only.

If I'm wrong, then I can just create these pages, host everything on a
web site (Windows hosting) and be done with it. It may not be an
"Access Interface", but it will suffice.
Thanks.

[xmp333]

> Access Data Access Pages are not read-only. But they do have limitations --

the user must be using IE 5.5 or later and have the Office Web Extensions
loaded. For Office XP, those are a free download from Microsoft.

I thought the Data Access Pages were read only since the ones I
created would not allow data to be entered. I'm glad I'm wrong, now I
just need to figure out what went wrong (sadly, the help system in
Access is agonizing to use).

That's not a problem. As long as these data access pages will allow
modifications of the data, then any configuration issues can be
addressed.
Thank you for yoru assistance.

[xmp333]

Hi All,
Thanks for all your input. The best solution I have seen is Windows
Terminal Server, or some similar setup.

Since we have some control over the client configuration, there should
be no problems with that. We can copy the .mdb file online, take
whatever security measures necessary, and have the client use the WTS
software to directly access this file. They should have read/write
capabilities and the full features of Access should be available to
them.

Data Access Pages are a good second choice if this doesn't work but
WTS seems to be the least labor intensive and most powerful solution.
Thanks.

[Suvra Barua]

If you are using Access 2000 or upper version it should not be a
problem it will give chance to convert the database and it is possible
to edit data from there on. Or you may have problem with access
permission that is you don't have the "edit" permission on you web
directory.

But best solution is that go ahead with IIS (windows web hosting) with
any web hosting company they will be able to give you better solution
if you have any problem. You can go http://www.m6.net the have better
value.

Cheers
Suvra Barua


xm****@yahoo.com wrote in message news:<4a**************************@posting.google. com>...

Who told you data access pages are read-only? They are intended to allow
viewing and editing.

When I created the data access pages, I was not able to modify data,
only view it. I tried navigating the Access help system, but it's
even worse than previous versions of Access, so I finally gave up and
assumed that data access pages were read only.

If I'm wrong, then I can just create these pages, host everything on a
web site (Windows hosting) and be done with it. It may not be an
"Access Interface", but it will suffice.
Thanks.