Does PHP support Access??

[Cyrus13]

Hello there! I need some piece of information from the experienced!
I have an Access database! Is it possible to use php to connect to it, or do I have to use ASP?? What would you suggest?

Also another -maybe silly question- is Apache (I think you have to have Apache to run php pages) more secure that IIS?

Thanks in advance for your help kings!

[JoshT]

I'm fairly certain there are ODBC drivers for Perl under Unix to use Access, and PHP is not that far removed. PHP runs fine under IIS for me, but Apache can use mod_php instead of CGI, which should perform better. Under Windows, I'm sure PHP can use COM, and therefore ADO.

Also another -maybe silly question- is Apache (I think you have to have Apache to run php pages) more secure that IIS?

Probably, but remember that the official Apache web site was hacked thru a hole in PHP not all that long ago. Security is dependent on the skill/knowledge of the administrator.

[sail3005]

I am pretty sure that you can use access with PHP, but i wouldn't do it. It would be a lot better to just use MySQL, which is free anyway. PHP would work a lot better with that.

[Cyrus13]

Thank you for your replies! You have provided me with much help.
Another, maybe silly question is, can ASP run on Unix servers??

[JoshT]

Yes, there's been ports of ASP to Unix (actually to Apache). ChiliSoft (sp?) makes one, and there's at least one more.

And then there's the elusive ASP emulator written in Perl, I seen it once, but haven't been able to find it again.

[scoutt]

http://www.phphelp.com/tutorial/myodbc-basics.html
for the access connection

I don't recommend ChiliSoft as I have heard bad things from it.

[Dork 1]

I heard that ChiliSoft or what ever is only a ASP2.0 clone

[JoshT]

Yeah, but aside from a few new methods, most of the improvements made to ASP are pretty specific to the way it works with IIS/Windows (early binding the intrinsic objects, Set x = Nothing takes place immediately rather than when the page ends, etc).

[sail3005]

ASP is basically windows only in my opinion. there are lots of other better languages that work on linux, so there is basically no need for ASP other than for windows. Even for windows it's not that great.

[JoshT]

ASP isn't a language though. It pretty much just wraps HTTP into COM objects, and provides some useful macros (ex. URLEncode). You then use a COM friendly language to manipulate the objects.

And yes, dealing with COM objects makes it most beneficial to Windows users. However, the ASP objects are mostly simple enough to emulate with any other technology.

The only thing that compares with ASP under *nix/Apache would be mod_php, because of similar functionality and the way they load into the web server's memory. mod_perl, maybe, but that doesn't have the cgi stuff built into the core of the language like php.