dashboard and online database question

[Baggers]

Hello all

I have set up an access database which several people in my company are using to log their activity (particularly through the access form), more and more people are starting to use this however so I would like to make the form or the database web based (perhaps set it up on our internal intranet). Does anyone know where I would get started with doing this, whenever i google it all I get is people trying to sell software and I hoped there would be a way of doing this with the resources i have available? If not wherever you think i should start with this would be really appreciated as I'd like to get going with it ! Also i need to set up a dashboard which demonstrates an overview of this information, I've looked into these a little would i set this up in excel and then link it to the data source or is there a betetr way of doing this as well? Any wisdom you could pass on would be great, I'm struggling!

cheers

Bags

[plender]

You should be able to find bags (heh) of samples doing ASP.Net & Access or ASP & Access, or even PHP & Access if that's your kinda thing.
Ensure it's password protected though, and watch out for SQL Injection Attacks

[Baggers]

which route would you suggest i go down? Which isthe easiest way to get my access forms web based and what would be my first step do you think? Thanks for the info i really appreciate it

[plender]

Using ASP (i.e. not ASP.Net) is probably the easiest way for you to get up and running if you don't have a lot of development experience

[FunkyDexter]

I'm not really a web developer but from my own limited experience and discussions I've had I'd steer you towards ASP.Net rather than old school ASP. Certainly, I found it a bit easier to use but I didn't need to delve very deeply for the work I was doing. There are loads of tutorials out there - just use google or have a look at the tutorials on this forum.

I would question whether you really want to make an Access DB web based. Access isn't really a multi user DB and doesn't cope with parallel access very well. If you want multiple people accessing it simultaneously then you'd be better moving to something like SQLServer (MySQL is also popular but I have no experience in it so can't comment).

[plender]

From teaching ASP and ASP.Net, I've found that people learn ASP a lot quicker. There are also much simpler tools - you don't need a web project, no compilation, etc. etc.

And Access will allow up to - what is it, like 10 concurrent users?

[plender]

Up to 255 concurrent users apparently, according to Microsoft ... but I can't imagine it would be pretty

[GaryMazzone]

I would never use Access for more then 3 people at a time (at least IMHO). As for using it on the web it is possible but not recommended

Access also allows you to put spaces in table name, Office Personnel is a legal table name in Access but will not work very well in a real server based RDBMS. Just be cause MS says you can do it in Access does not make it right.

[plender]

So does SQL Server

INSERT INTO [Table with spaces in the name]
	(FieldNoSpaces, [Field With Spaces], [Field    with   lots    of   spaces])
VALUES
	('a', 'a a', 'a a a');

And I'd guess that replacing the [] with ` would make it work under MySQL too

[GaryMazzone]

Yes you can do that with any database system.... any DBA would kick any developer in the head if they did that. I would not allow that table name into my database. It does nothing but cause issues.....

this [Office Personnel] is not the same as this [OFFICE Personnel] which is not the same as [Office PERSONNEL].... that is an absolute nightmare for a database

[plender]

Only if you're using a case-sensitive collation

[GaryMazzone]

In oracle you have no choice.... If you create a table it is stored in the database system tables in Upper Case and is always checked that way if you do not use space in the name. If you put in side the brackets [] then it is stored exactly that way and is only matched exactly that way.

[Baggers]

Guys this has been brilliant cheers, so in conclusion you reckon migrate my access database over to sql and then develop my forms in asp.net? I'll start googling asp and sql tutorials then! Thanks again

[FunkyDexter]

you reckon migrate my access database over to sql and then develop my forms in asp.net?

That would be my recommendation but you can probably alreadty see from the thread that opinions differ. I'd definitely move away from access: it's really designed as a single user desktop DB so, while it will theoretically handle multiple access, it's not really what it's good at and other DBs will give you better tools.

One thing I would ask: why have you decided to go web based on an internal app? To my mind (and I know there are lots of folks who'll disagree with me on this one) the one big advantage a web platform gives is the ability to trivially publish your work to the outside world. On an internal app that's not relevant. Rollouts of internal aps are pretty trivial these days using group policies and the like so I'm not sure what benefit a web platform will actually give you. On the flip side, a desktop client would probably be easier to develop and more powerful.