Simplest way to put an Access 2007 database on the Web?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brett2007
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Brett2007

I own and enjoy MS Access 2007 as a desktop database. Pardon my ignorance -
first time to this forum and access databases.

But now I would like to put a database (a list web browsers can 'sort'
according to one or several fields) up on the world wide web - mostly for
read-only/display.


What file format should I choose? Should I avoid the newest access 2007
format?

Is the SIMPLEST way for me to get Expression Web - and use the tools within
that tool itself to create the web interface for my database?


I want to keep this as simple as possible and AVOID:

1. Using a database other than ACCESS 2007.

2. Adding other tools to the mix (no time to learn more than one other tool:
pref. expression web).


Can I avoid asp, other 'visual' tools, etc., and accomplish everything I need
with MS Expression Web and Access 2007?


Thanks for any and all advice for this beginner.


Brett
 
Thanks Daniel for the article and information.

To be more clear, I should state that this would be accessed from our website.
We are not looking to create a WAN for our office use - but rather a public
website serving simple list data.

I think we may be doing something along the lines of Replication as mentioned
in your article.

I'm not sure how Expression Web works, but it seemed "simple", and, if it
allows us to create a web interface to our database (for public to browse a
simple database), then this might be what we want. I got the impression this
could be done pretty efficiently, though, and would work well for a moderate
traffic site, from some articles I've read online. Maybe I got the wrong idea.








Daniel said:
1st off, Access is truly not a web database. So depending on your needs, you
may want to stop right here and rethink what you are doing.

That said, it would be worth your while to take a look at

http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal/Wan/Wans.html

it may help you understand the why's and possibly offer you a solution.
I own and enjoy MS Access 2007 as a desktop database. Pardon my ignorance -
first time to this forum and access databases.
Click to expand...
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
Brett
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I want to keep the focus here on one thing:

How to put an ACCESS 2007 database on the WEB in the simplest manner possible.
It must allow the public to browse the databse using IE or any other common
browser.

Ideally, it will allow the web visitor to sort the list by city, zip code,
etc.... you get the idea.

Is EW the best (i.e., 'quickest') way to do this kind of simple task?

I dont know the features and limitations of Expression Web, so I'm asking for
advice....before investing a lot of time in this tool only to find out it
cannot do what we need..

Thanks.

Thanks Daniel for the article and information.

To be more clear, I should state that this would be accessed from our website.
We are not looking to create a WAN for our office use - but rather a public
website serving simple list data.

I think we may be doing something along the lines of Replication as mentioned
in your article.

I'm not sure how Expression Web works, but it seemed "simple", and, if it
allows us to create a web interface to our database (for public to browse a
simple database), then this might be what we want. I got the impression this
could be done pretty efficiently, though, and would work well for a moderate
traffic site, from some articles I've read online. Maybe I got the wrong idea.
1st off, Access is truly not a web database. So depending on your needs, you
may want to stop right here and rethink what you are doing.
Click to expand...
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
Click to expand...
 
Brett2007 said:
I want to keep the focus here on one thing:

How to put an ACCESS 2007 database on the WEB in the simplest manner
possible. It must allow the public to browse the databse using IE or
any other common browser.

Ideally, it will allow the web visitor to sort the list by city, zip
code, etc.... you get the idea.

Is EW the best (i.e., 'quickest') way to do this kind of simple task?

I dont know the features and limitations of Expression Web, so I'm
asking for advice....before investing a lot of time in this tool only
to find out it cannot do what we need..

Thanks.
Click to expand...

As Expression Web is a fairly new product (I had never heard of it until your
post) there might not be many people who feel qualified to make statements about
it being the best, fastest, or easiest for what you want to do. I suspect that
those who build web pages would find it easier to use the tools that they
already know so objective comparisons are difficult to find.

If you currently own zero web authoring tools and have zero familiarity with any
of them, then EW might be as good a tool for you as any other. I would look for
sites that have reviewed it and evaluated it to see if they provide any insight.
 
Brett2007 via AccessMonster.com said:
I want to keep the focus here on one thing:

How to put an ACCESS 2007 database on the WEB in the simplest manner
possible.
It must allow the public to browse the databse using IE or any other
common
browser.

Ideally, it will allow the web visitor to sort the list by city, zip code,
etc.... you get the idea.

Is EW the best (i.e., 'quickest') way to do this kind of simple task?

I dont know the features and limitations of Expression Web, so I'm asking
for
advice....before investing a lot of time in this tool only to find out it
cannot do what we need..

Thanks.

Thanks Daniel for the article and information.

To be more clear, I should state that this would be accessed from our
website.
We are not looking to create a WAN for our office use - but rather a
public
website serving simple list data.

I think we may be doing something along the lines of Replication as
mentioned
in your article.

I'm not sure how Expression Web works, but it seemed "simple", and, if it
allows us to create a web interface to our database (for public to browse
a
simple database), then this might be what we want. I got the impression
this
could be done pretty efficiently, though, and would work well for a
moderate
traffic site, from some articles I've read online. Maybe I got the wrong
idea.
1st off, Access is truly not a web database. So depending on your needs,
you
may want to stop right here and rethink what you are doing.
Click to expand...
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
Brett
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...


In my experience, Brett, building and maintaining a data-centric web app is
a task that requires a range of tools, there isn't any one tool that does it
all. An at least equally important question to investigate is what
technologies are available on the server(s) where the application will be
hosted. You don't want to go off and learn how to create ASP.NET pages (for
example) only to learn that they are not supported on your server(s).

I would start there - determine where the app will be hosted and what
server-side technologies are available. Then look for development tools that
support those technologies.
 
The server is still open - we havent chosen a specific host (but obviously it
would be Windows based since we're talking about an Access database).

I'm wanting to know if I can do this with just EW and my existing Access 2007
database. Or, if more tools are *required*. (I realize I can always add more
tools to the mix later.)

Does anyone know if we can use the new 2007 file format, or must we revert
back to the 2003 file format to put the access database up on the website?

Brendan said:
I want to keep the focus here on one thing:
Click to expand...
[quoted text clipped - 44 lines]
In my experience, Brett, building and maintaining a data-centric web app is
a task that requires a range of tools, there isn't any one tool that does it
all. An at least equally important question to investigate is what
technologies are available on the server(s) where the application will be
hosted. You don't want to go off and learn how to create ASP.NET pages (for
example) only to learn that they are not supported on your server(s).

I would start there - determine where the app will be hosted and what
server-side technologies are available. Then look for development tools that
support those technologies.
Click to expand...
 
Expression Web was former known as FrontPage. Here's a link with forums help
and tutorials.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Expression_Web#Final

below the link to a forum

http://www.expression-web-designer-help.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=1

It appears that EW has limitations. On one post, a user has a SQL express but
it was not able to manipulate data. EW support connection to SQL server but
with limitations

Look at EW features here

http://www.microsoft.com/expression/expression-web/FPUpgrade.aspx

ASP.NET 2.0 - Bring your sites to life with the latest version of Microsoft®
ASP.NET, offering a wide variety of controls, from navigation to calendars,
login functionality to database integration. All this is configured and
rendered in the design surface, without the need to resort to coding.

ASP.NET Development Server - View ASP.NET pages on your design workstation
without the need for a complex Web server. The ASP.NET Development Server
launches when it's needed to serve your ASP.NET pages, without taking up the
system resources of a full Web server.

Not sure about the ASP.NET Development Server. Do note MS does not support or
recommend using Access mdb file even with a SQL server.
 
I'd like to know in more detail what those limitations (of EW) are insofar as
database control(s), etc.

It is looking like Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 is what we may want.
The "Express Edition" is free, I'm told - I'm not sure if there is a fuller
edition, and what that includes that the Express Edition does not.

Expression Web was former known as FrontPage. Here's a link with forums help
and tutorials.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Expression_Web#Final

below the link to a forum

http://www.expression-web-designer-help.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=1

It appears that EW has limitations. On one post, a user has a SQL express but
it was not able to manipulate data. EW support connection to SQL server but
with limitations

Look at EW features here

http://www.microsoft.com/expression/expression-web/FPUpgrade.aspx

ASP.NET 2.0 - Bring your sites to life with the latest version of Microsoft®
ASP.NET, offering a wide variety of controls, from navigation to calendars,
login functionality to database integration. All this is configured and
rendered in the design surface, without the need to resort to coding.

ASP.NET Development Server - View ASP.NET pages on your design workstation
without the need for a complex Web server. The ASP.NET Development Server
launches when it's needed to serve your ASP.NET pages, without taking up the
system resources of a full Web server.

Not sure about the ASP.NET Development Server. Do note MS does not support or
recommend using Access mdb file even with a SQL server.
The server is still open - we havent chosen a specific host (but obviously it
would be Windows based since we're talking about an Access database).
Click to expand...
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
Does anyone know if we can use the new 2007 file format, or must we revert
back to the 2003 file format to put the access database up on the website?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
To my knowledge (but I might be wrong, as always), EW has the same data
designer as Visual Studio 2005; so there is no limitation about updating
data. I suppose that the user who was not capable of manipulating the data
either didn't understood the process or has made some basic error like
forgetting to set a primary key for the tables. There is a trial version of
EW, so you can see by yourself and make a comparaison with VS2008. In the
full kit of Express (Expression Studio), there is also a copy of Visual
Studio 2005 Standard (I don't know the difference between the standard and
the profesionnal versions).

VS2008 is limited in the sense that you can only connect to a local server
(don't know what this mean exactly); however, using it will give you a
strong understanding of EW, VS2005 and VS2008. The work that you will do
with EW is compatible with VS2005 (and VS2008?) but the inverse is not
necessarily true: with VS2005, you can do a lot of thing that will make your
project partially incompatible with EW; however, if you are using VS2005,
probably that you won't bother yourself with EW.

Finally, before going into this process, you must make sure that your
provider to set up ASP.NET 2.0 as both EW and VS2005 are based on .NET 2.0.
VS 2008 is based on .NET 3.0 but I think that you shouldn't have any problem
to target ASP.NET 2.0 with it.

--
Sylvain Lafontaine, ing.
MVP - Technologies Virtual-PC
E-mail: sylvain aei ca (fill the blanks, no spam please)


Brett2007 via AccessMonster.com said:
I'd like to know in more detail what those limitations (of EW) are insofar
as
database control(s), etc.

It is looking like Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 is what we may
want.
The "Express Edition" is free, I'm told - I'm not sure if there is a
fuller
edition, and what that includes that the Express Edition does not.

Expression Web was former known as FrontPage. Here's a link with forums
help
and tutorials.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Expression_Web#Final

below the link to a forum

http://www.expression-web-designer-help.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=1

It appears that EW has limitations. On one post, a user has a SQL express
but
it was not able to manipulate data. EW support connection to SQL server
but
with limitations

Look at EW features here

http://www.microsoft.com/expression/expression-web/FPUpgrade.aspx

ASP.NET 2.0 - Bring your sites to life with the latest version of
Microsoft®
ASP.NET, offering a wide variety of controls, from navigation to
calendars,
login functionality to database integration. All this is configured and
rendered in the design surface, without the need to resort to coding.

ASP.NET Development Server - View ASP.NET pages on your design workstation
without the need for a complex Web server. The ASP.NET Development Server
launches when it's needed to serve your ASP.NET pages, without taking up
the
system resources of a full Web server.

Not sure about the ASP.NET Development Server. Do note MS does not support
or
recommend using Access mdb file even with a SQL server.
The server is still open - we havent chosen a specific host (but
obviously it
would be Windows based since we're talking about an Access database).
Click to expand...
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
Does anyone know if we can use the new 2007 file format, or must we
revert
back to the 2003 file format to put the access database up on the
website?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
I'd like to know in more detail what those limitations (of EW) are insofar as
database control(s), etc.
Click to expand...

Refer to Sylvain post.
It is looking like Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 is what we may want.
The "Express Edition" is free, I'm told - I'm not sure if there is a fuller
edition, and what that includes that the Express Edition does not.
Click to expand...

Not sure about a stand-alone version for this. MS seems to package it into
Visual Studio. So it seems that you’ll have to buy Visual Studio.

There is a free stand alone Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2008 at the
download page but you’ll also need to download the free version of SQL Server
2005 Express Edition, .NET 2.0 or 3.0, IIS, latest service packs for OS.

http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/default.aspx

Brett2007 wrote:
 
I downloaded MS VWD 2008 and SQL Server 2005 Express along with NET 3.5.

Wonder how easy it is to 'copy' my access db to sql server format (more than
I'd planned on getting into for sure).
 
You don't need to upsize your Access database to SQL-Server to start playing
with EW or Visual Studio 2005/8, as these two products can connect as easily
with a MDB database as with SQL-Server. For VWS 2008, I don't know but I
would be surprised if it can't connect to an Access database file.
 
Does Access 2007 database/file format have the power to handle a public
webiste (read only hits)?

Or, is upsizing to SQL server a necessity?

Sylvain said:
You don't need to upsize your Access database to SQL-Server to start playing
with EW or Visual Studio 2005/8, as these two products can connect as easily
with a MDB database as with SQL-Server. For VWS 2008, I don't know but I
would be surprised if it can't connect to an Access database file.
I downloaded MS VWD 2008 and SQL Server 2005 Express along with NET 3.5.
Click to expand...
[quoted text clipped - 23 lines]
Click to expand...
 
I don't know because it solely depends on the load of your website. Having
a few hundred hits par second or per minute will not have the same load as
having a few hits per hour or per day. There is also the size of the
backend database to take into account but as you are already with Jet, there
shouldn't be any problem on this side.

--
Sylvain Lafontaine, ing.
MVP - Technologies Virtual-PC
E-mail: sylvain aei ca (fill the blanks, no spam please)


Brett2007 via AccessMonster.com said:
Does Access 2007 database/file format have the power to handle a public
webiste (read only hits)?

Or, is upsizing to SQL server a necessity?

Sylvain said:
You don't need to upsize your Access database to SQL-Server to start
playing
with EW or Visual Studio 2005/8, as these two products can connect as
easily
with a MDB database as with SQL-Server. For VWS 2008, I don't know but I
would be surprised if it can't connect to an Access database file.
I downloaded MS VWD 2008 and SQL Server 2005 Express along with NET 3.5.
Click to expand...
[quoted text clipped - 23 lines]
http://www.microsoft.com/express/download/default.aspx
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
WOW, that is a nice progam/script, Tom!

Though we were hoping to stick with Access (to keep things simple), it may
well be SIMPLER to convert it to a mysql/php database driven platform. How
ironic - we originally got ACCESS 2007 thinking it would SIMPLIFY our work!
 
Brett2007 said:
WOW, that is a nice progam/script, Tom!
Click to expand...

I was intrigued, but the first demo page gave me an endless stream of error
alerts that forced me to kill my browser with task manager.
 
I forgot to mention that you’d also need the SQL Server Management Studio
Express. You’ll need to to upsize the access database.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...AE-4BD1-4E3D-94B8-5A0F62BF7796&displaylang=en


I do not have A2007. In older version, you upsize by connecting the SQL
Server by ODBC or file DSN. You must create this first after you install the
SQL Server.

From your access database.
1.Tools – Database Utilities – Upsizing Wizard
2.Create new database and give a name to the database
3.click next
4.“connect to your Data sourceâ€
5.Upsizing Wizard Box – select the tables to export to SQL Server.
 
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