I'm a student in an E-Commerce program and I agreed to do a capstone project in my web design class as a blog site, where I can register users (with an access database) and have them update entries whenever they feel up to it...

I'm a competant web developer, but I have only a basic knowledge of making plain access databases and no clue how to go about setting up a database that you can have someone add to online.

Can anyone start me off in the right direction with this?

Thanks :confused:

I would first off recommend against using access for this type of application. You would be much better off using MySQL, it is much better suited for your needs.

You being a web developer, I'm assuming you know how to program. Web developers develop web software. What language would you like to use? PHP? ASP? ColdFusion? Java? Perl?

I also recommend you go with MySQL server. Access is just a file, and craps out once you got over 8 people connecting to it at the same time. With MySQL, because it's a server, it handles all the user sessions appropriately.

I can vouch for Access terrible reliability when in heavy use. It works great for small applications, but something like this heavy calls for a full fledged database server. I can't tell you how much pain me and my boss have been through with Access at our clients.

Honestly, the only reason why I've been bothering with an access database is because my professor doesn't provide a SQL server for us to run off of (which really bites). I've found SQL script is easy to find if you need code and not very difficult to understand. On the other hand, my brother and I own a site together where I have access to a SQL server (gotta check with my prof, but I'm sure I could bounce it from there). Although, really I'm not expected to have any more than 5 people using the site as an example.

As for what language, I perfer PHP. I only ever partially learned perl and I kicking myself for not learning the others yet, but I'm still a freshman-- I'll figure it out.

the issue here is not the databse.. although access is not good for larger sites..

you need to run some basic SQL queries thought your code

like

INSERT INTO table_name
VALUES (value1, value2,....)


read this:
http://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_insert.asp

also, if you need to learn how to create database connections, get WROX ASP.NET FOR BEGINNERS

jack

Try Alpha 5 V10 - You will never look back.

I know it's already been said, but I too would advise against using Access for an online database. It's no good for large databases and depending on what language you're using, interfacing with it can be a real pain (PHP and Access doesn't mix well, I tried). My college taught us SQL in several classes, but when it came to .NET programming, all they would show us is how to interface to an Access DB file. Terrible, terrible course design.

I'm a student in an E-Commerce program and I agreed to do a capstone project in my web design class as a blog site, where I can register users (with an access database) and have them update entries whenever they feel up to it...

I'm a competant web developer, but I have only a basic knowledge of making plain access databases and no clue how to go about setting up a database that you can have someone add to online.

Can anyone start me off in the right direction with this?

Thanks :confused:

While the others are absolutely right in their recommendation of MySQL or other server-type database instead of Access, you can in fact use Access for small, low-user databases if you insist. First, remember that your Access database will be created on your local computer, then uploaded and managed, preferably with ASP/.NET code.

By the way, no offense, but I never heard of a "competent web developer" who wasn't comfortable with database usage. If you want to be known as a web developer, you really need to close that information gap in a hurry.

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