Web based user interface

[Peppie]

I have a (self proclaimed ) very nice and well designed
database that organizes my clients, contacts, projects and
documents sent to my clients (including a report generator in MS
Word).

At this moment, the database is used by appr. 100 users in two
countries. So far, no problems, but I have the feeling that I
should take this thing a bit further. I would like to create a
user interface (a copy of the current user interface) that runs
in Internet Explorer. In fact the whole BE of the database
should be accessed through the internet.

Many of our employees are on the road for longer periods of
time and they still would like to be able to add new contacts to
the database and more specifically, create new letters, reports,
meeting minutes and such.

This would all be possible if the deatabase could be accesssed
through a secured internet web site.

Is this easy to do?
How can it be done?
Is the number of users limited?

Thanks, Peppie

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[Dean]

You may might want to checkout an app like
http://www.yessoftware.com/products/...p?product_id=1
There are others like asprunner.

[Larry Linson]

"Peppie" wrote

I have a (self proclaimed ) very nice and well
designed database . . .

<SNIP>

This would all be possible if the deatabase
could be accesssed through a secured internet
web site.

Is this easy to do?

There's no "Convert to Web Application" option in any version of Access,
except the Data Access Pages (DAP) which was little used because of its
limitations, and for which development and maintenance is not being
supported in the forthcoming version, Access 2007. Existing DAPs, we are
told, will be supported to the extent that they can be executed.

How can it be done?

You can use an Access/Jet database with one of several web techniques, in
approximate ascending order of difficulty and flexibility:

Microsoft Front Page with the Data Interaction Wizard
will allow you to create a website with a simple (and
_simple_ is the operative word) interface to the Jet
database from Access.

Third party software (for example, Cold Fusion) can
create web applications to access the Jet database. Some
of these require their own server product (and Cold
Fusion is one which does). I use that as an example only
because I have worked in an office where it was used.

Microsoft's ActiveX Server Pages (.asp, .aspx, and ASP.NET)
will be the most work to implement, but will give you
the good flexibility -- and require no special "server engine."
Others can, perhaps, suggest some third-party software that
assists in converting Access to ActiveX Server Pages.

You should be aware, however, that the user interface that can be
implemented via web browsers is not nearly as rich as the user interface
that can be implemented with Microsoft Access, just due to the nature of the
software and environment.

Is the number of users limited?

If you expect a large number of concurrent users, you may want to consider
using a server database, such as Microsoft SQL Server (an easy "upgrade"
from Jet), or a different server DB compatible with the technique you choose
to implement the web application.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

[David W. Fenton]

rp*****@zonnet.nl (Peppie) wrote in
news:45**********************@news.tele2.nl:

Many of our employees are on the road for longer periods of
time and they still would like to be able to add new contacts to
the database and more specifically, create new letters, reports,
meeting minutes and such.

This would all be possible if the deatabase could be accesssed
through a secured internet web site.

Windows Terminal Server could do this for you, either through the
Remote Desktop Client or through the Citrix extensions that allow
you to run a WTS session in a browser (I believe that's only
available with the Citrix add-ons, but I could be wrong about that).
But I can't see why running it in a web browser would be helpful,
except in saving a one-time Remote Desktop client installation. If
all the users are on WinXP that's a complete non-issue, as it's
installed by default.

--
David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/
usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/

[Lyle Fairfield]

rp*****@zonnet.nl (Peppie) wrote in news:450d27e8$0$4543
$b*******@news.tele2.nl:

I have a (self proclaimed ) very nice and well designed
database that organizes my clients, contacts, projects and
documents sent to my clients (including a report generator in MS
Word).

At this moment, the database is used by appr. 100 users in two
countries. So far, no problems, but I have the feeling that I
should take this thing a bit further. I would like to create a
user interface (a copy of the current user interface) that runs
in Internet Explorer. In fact the whole BE of the database
should be accessed through the internet.

Many of our employees are on the road for longer periods of
time and they still would like to be able to add new contacts to
the database and more specifically, create new letters, reports,
meeting minutes and such.

This would all be possible if the deatabase could be accesssed
through a secured internet web site.

Is this easy to do?
How can it be done?
Is the number of users limited?

ADPs are not popular now. But using an ADP would effect what you want and
the effort is likely to be minimal:

1. Create/rent/buy a web-enabled SQL-Server (About $10.00 per month to
rent from a reputable site such as DiscountASP.net [not affiliated with
me])
2. Port your tables and relationships to it;
3. Create an ADP; connect to the SQL-Server;
4. Rewrite your queries as Stored procedures or Views (this wil take most
of your time);
5. Import your forms and reports and modules from the MDB to the ADP.

You're more or less done. There will be other things, of course, such as
establishing specific permissions for users, but they will be particular
to your case (and may not be required at all).

Advantage; if you do it well your users won't notice the difference;
they'll think they are stiil using th old app.

Disandvatage: Security; if your users create a new ADP and attach to the
same server/database they'll have access to the data without your
application managing that use;this is why I've stopped using ADPS. But
for the situation you describe they may be just fine.

How much work? For a small db, a day for an experienced ADP developer ...
and so on up from there.

How many users? Who knows ... a lot!

You'll notice I did not mention the word "Wizard". I think wizards are
for fools and incompetents and the lazy; they generally do things badly
or worse and often it's more work to correct what they've done than to do
it right in the first place. I never knowlingly use a wizard. They are
crap!

One last piece of advice: Ask those who malign ADPs how many they've
created and sold and for how long they've used them. Most of the
criticizers here know SFA about them. (But they know they're BAD!)

--
Lyle Fairfield