I am brand new with web design. I no little about HTML and CSS. Enough to get in trouble I suppose.
On XP Pro I use MS Access (2003) data tables, reports and queries for PRINT purposes.
I also generate charts in FL Graphics from these queries which I then convert to .jpg’s and upload to my Internet site www.PropertiesWithStyle.com. Tedious with less than stunning clarity!
I now realize that I must be able to generate matrix data tables and data supported charts directly to my Internet site pages from Access.
At this time I do NOT wish to have the user interact with my Internet site.
Is this the best approach? Visual Studio has videos where a table is created within the program but it doesn’t seem to be able to read Access tables or queries directly. Do I need to learn SQL or MySQL? How different are these from Access queries?
Please review my site to see the charts I’m referring to.
Most charts are under the MARKETING ACTIVITY button but also under the LOCAL AREAS PICTURES & PRICING MODELS and VERIFY REAL ESTATE VALUES buttons.
I will also need a new Internet Site host. What do I need to look for that is compatible with ASP.NET, PHP or anything else?
asp.net or PHP should work, but I think .net will be your best option as it has built in controls to connect to those dbs and your life will be easier. MySql needs a connector which you can download from their site.
.net should be able to connect to access no problem, provided your connection string is correct. check: http://www.connectionstrings.com/
Agreed. If you are connecting to an Access database, ASP.NET is designed to work with a number of database including Access specifically. If you were building a database driven web application, Access would be a poor choice because it only supports one connection at a time (it was after all designed as a desktop app where one connection is plenty). That means the second person to visit your website has to wait until the first person is completely finished with the Access database before they can even start downloading your page which has the potential to result in appalling download times. However, if I understand you correctly, your users won’t actually be generating any work for the DB, so that wouldn’t be a problem. In that case Access is fine.
You don’t need all the silly connector stuff to run MySQL, that’s just the way they set it up. I run MySQL on some of the projects I’ve done and there are just a couple of files (MySql.Data.dll and MySql.Web.dll) which you need to copy into your website’s bin folder to make it work. Then just set your connection string in the web.config and you’re good to go. (Though I don’t know if it’s that simple given that you’re more familiar with manipulating applications which then do things for you. In some situations that makes things a lot easier, but when you need to extend the functionality of the packages it can make your life a living hell and ultimately may not work at all. That’s a reason to have some programming skills and be able to write code for yourself.) However, I don’t see any need for that powerful a database given the situation you describe.
For a Sitepoint “Guru”, you really don’t know what your talking about!!!
Where on earth did you read that Access only supports 1 connection? Read the specifications
It supports (in theory) a maximum of 255 concurrent users, but off course, this really isn’t recommended. But in a web environment, You’re only connected for some millieseconds at a time. so even with a pretty much traffic, it is very unlikely you’ll have more then 5 concurrent users, most of the time it will only be 1 user at the time.
Many has been written about the pro’s an conn’s of using Access in a web environment, but because of people like you just repeating what you most likely heard but never tested yourself it is very hard to debate so I won’t. I can only say I’ve seen many websites using a mdb backend (in fact a Jet Database Engine, not Access) without any perfomance issues at all!
Sure, but when it comes to Access, some people don’t discuss but simply say it shouldn’t be used in a web environment. This may be true for big profesional websites, however most websites on the web will do just fine with a mdb as a backend! Especially the people that ask questions on forums like this, will never build profesional websites, and really don’t need SQL Server of MySQL.
The arguments that are used are many times very weak, or like in this case, total non-sense. Most likely, it is hearsay, if they would have tried themselves they would have known it.
I’ve used Access for pro sites many, many years ago and recently for a band that didn’t want to pay for SQL hosting for their site. It was a bit of an issue getting write permissions to the App_Data folder but they finally let me have it. It seems to work fine most of the time. It does get some connection issues, albeit rarely. I much prefer SQL Server though. Much less futzing around.
He posted his opinion on the subject. There is no need to get upset about it and say the things you said. If it is incorrect, then correct him, no need to get rude about it.
We need to be polite with one another, or other users will just refrain from posting if they are going to get verbally abused every time they make a mistake
Chronical has the right intention. Anyways, you do realize you can import your Acces data to SQL Server, right? I don’t see why you use Access, when it wasn’t made for the web, and SQL Server Express is free. Good Luck when 50 people hit your site within 10 seconds…
Oh, and I HAVE used Access for the web! And it was utter garbage.
Off course I do realize that. But I also explained a couple of times in this forums already, that SQL will cost more than using an MDB file. Most people use shared hosting providers, where you can use as many mdb files as you want, the webspace is the limit. Some hosting packages include SQL Server, but ussually this is limited to a certain amount of data (or you need to pay more). I don’t know if you realize (and tested) the performance of some shared hosted SQL database servers? I did, and the performance is sometimes very bad.
So yes, I realize that SQL Server Express is free, but you need at least a (Virtual) Private/Dedicated Server, which most people don’t have and also don’t need, like:
In shared hosting environments, it is not Access that will be the first problem you’ll encounter, the web resources will. Because when you eventually will have so many hits that using Access might be a problem, your hosting provider will already told you to upgrade to a (Virtual) Dedicated Server. But although everybody would like their website to have many visitors, most websites won’t have that many hits.
I never ever have connectioon issues, it is just a matter of opening the database as late as possible at close as soon as possible. But the most important thing is to properly Dispose the connection, which is very easy by consistently use the “using” syntax, which will dispose and even close your connection, even when you don’t close the connection (in fact, I never close it explicitly)!
I have websites with 50 page hits per second, without any problem whatsover…
I’ve also seen websites with a SQL Server backend that where garbage. That doesn’t mean nobody should use SQL Server anymore!!!
Yes, of course. It still has “Server Unavailable” issues from time to time. I’m sure it’s the Access connection because the pages without the calendar still work when that has the issue.