Re: Using Access for web application?

My about the server running the web app was stemming from the following
citation: « Building something in Access now will mean having to use
Windows-based servers ... ». From this comment, it was not clear if the
decision of using Windows or Linux has been made.

If you are using DreamWeaver and ASP; the fact of using Access or MySQL as
the backend database is probably pointless; particularly if you have only
4000 rows of data. With such a small database, the probability of having
complex queries is very low (but not null). In fact, by using ODBC linked
tables, it is probably more advantageous to use MySQL because you will have
a direct access to the data over the Internet; something that you cannot do
with Access because the drivers for Access cannot operate directly over the
Internet (or WAN), only over a local LAN. (They are solutions to overcome
this limitation but they are either very slow (VPN), deprecated because of
security concerns (RDS) or expensive (TS/Citrix).

By the way, this will give you the occasion of learning something else.

S. L.

"JED" <JED@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:E6AD15D5-E11A-45D6-B3AE-72C22BFD2993@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Thx for the comments. Any suggestions as to which newsgroup would be more
> appropriate?
>
> I am quite knowledgeable working with Access offline or local network, but
> when it comes to the web, I admit, I'm quite a dummy.
>
> The server that the web app will use in this case, I believe is not
> significant since the app will be hosted by an ISP (not by an inhouse
> server). So it is not an issue of purchasing server software to make it
> work.
> The ISP can support an Access database.
>
> In this project, it has been tossed around that Dream Weaver would be the
> good choice for page creation. I also believe that the pages would be ASP.
>
> I appreciate your confirmation that using Access as a backend database is
> not the real issue. That was my feeling also.
>
> One reason I was tending to using Access for the Web app, was that there
> is
> a current offline Access app that is related to this project. My leaning
> is
> that the two projects might interface easier if the underlying software is
> also related.
>
> As for religion, well, generally I am a Microsoft supporter whenever
> possible.
>
>
> "Sylvain Lafontaine" wrote:
>
>> This newsgroup is about DAP (Data Access Pages) and SQL-Server and, to a
>> little extent, about Access' MDB files but only for LAN cases because DAP
>> cannot be used with MDB over the Internet (WAN). So, I really don't see
>> why
>> you think that this newsgroup could be appropriate; especially when you
>> have
>> said that you were not interested with DAP (which is, btw, a good
>> decision).
>>
>> Your first question should not be about using Access or MySQL but about
>> which technology you will decide to use as the Web server (Linux or
>> Windows)
>> and on the web server for generating the pages (PHP, PERL, ASP, ASP.NET,
>> ...
>> ?). In your contrast, the choice of the backend database is of
>> relatively
>> minor importance here.
>>
>> If you want to have arguments of some relevance to your project, then you
>> should provide more details about this particular web project.
>> Otherwise,
>> this kind of post will become a religious discussion. (In fact, even
>> with
>> more details, this will probably become a heated religious discussion.)
>>
>> S. L.
>>
>> "JED" <JED@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>> news:D9D44FB0-7520-443A-99A9-5106DBE7F4BB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> >I have an opportunity to work on a web based project using Access.
>> >However,
>> > there has been some opposition to using Access. Instead MySQL is being
>> > suggested as an alternative. The project is actually a small project
>> > (less
>> > than 4000 table rows) and I feel Access would work well. I won't be
>> > using
>> > Data Access Pages but would use another product to generate web pages.
>> > Because I am not familiar with MySQL, can anyone assist me and offer
>> > some
>> > comments as a rebuttal to the opposing remarks mentioned below (any
>> > comments
>> > I make are preceded by "-->")?
>> >
>> > 1) Access is a horrible system for web applications and building
>> > something
>> > now in Access would hinder future growth and maintenance. This is for a
>> > bunch
>> > of reasons...just a couple:
>> >
>> > 2) Access is not designed to be a web-enabled database - it is designed
>> > for
>> > desktop use. This means that there are no easy systems for working with
>> > large
>> > amounts of data, and integration with other systems. --> 4000 table
>> > entries
>> > is not a lot of data
>> >
>> > 3) The vast majority of the web runs on Window severs. This is due to
>> > the
>> > expense of running Windows in a server context (licensing, sysadmin
>> > salaries,
>> > increased main. b/c of security, etc.) Building something in Access now
>> > will
>> > mean having to use Windows-based servers, which tend to be more
>> > expensive.
>> >
>> > 4) Doing the system in MySQL makes more sense because
>> > a) it is free
>> > b) natural for web applications and has lots of built-in functionality
>> > to
>> > support this context
>> > c) there are lots of developers who work with MySQL making the vendor
>> > search process much easier
>> > d) MySQL is based on a standard language (Structured Query Language)
>> > which
>> > transition easily to other SQL-style platforms.
>> >
>> > 5) Go with MySQL unless there is a serous reason prohibiting this.
>> >
>>
>>
>>


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