Website DB from M$ Access

[bazz]

Can a M$ Access database be used to drive standards compliant websites or should it be done with MySQL etc?

bazz

[mark87]

I'm sure Access can be used as a database - I assume the server would need to be running Windows though. MySQL is more popular because it's easy to use and runs on Linux (and Windows).

[bazz]

Thanks,

bazz

[vinyl-junkie]

Having a standards compliant website isn't dependent on your choice of databases, but rather, your HTML code.

Mark is correct about Access pretty much being required to run on a Windows server, which restricts your choice of servers and thus hosting companies. However, one of the cool things about using an Access database would be using .NET to code your database-driven pages.

[bazz]

Ah well now then, as for standards compliant.... I have found that VB script (an M$ product), runs only in IE. I thought it possible that it could apply equally to other M$ software such as, Access and so, while the (HTML), code of web pages may be standards complaint, how would the site be, if it is only viewable in IE?

I know nought about Access and wonder this. A fried of mine has already got a Db in Access and wants now to make it drive a website. Can he open the Db files in wordpad (for example) and then svae them as .txt files for upload to the server? The idea would be that he can, then, read from them with perl or php.

Bazz

[mark87]

I'm not sure if you're getting a bit confused or if I am...

Think of the Access database just like a MySQL one.

You can use PHP to access the Access database, just like you would with MySQL, although you have to use ODBC instead of SQL.

http://www.w3schools.com/php/php_db_odbc.asp

To produce standards compliant code, it's up to you to make sure the output is compliant. Using MySQL doesn't mean your output will be valid at all, it's the HTML output which makes it valid/compliant or not.

As vinyl-junkie stated, using Access will allow you to program in .NET too.

The idea of using a database for the web is that it's relational, tables can interlink and you can pull out any bit of info you want. So no, not only would renaming them to text files not work at all, but it would be useless because all the benefits of using the database would be lost... You'd use ODBC to connect to the database as demonstrated in the url above.

[Spudhead]

I have found that VB script (an M$ product), runs only in IE

This is... misleading.

VBScript client-side only works in IE. Microsoft's browser; Microsoft's scripting language. However, server-side VBScript - which is what you'd almost certainly end up using if you were connecting to a database in classic ASP - doesn't care what browser you're using. It all happens on the server.

[bazz]

@Spudhead
OK Sorry 'bout that.

I don't really have first hand knowledge of VB.

@mark87
OK so Access can be used in conjunction with PHP but only on an M$ server?

Maybe it was I, who confused things, with the term standards compliant. I know what it means but I was trying to make sure that however the site may be built, that it presents properly in all browers.

Up until recently, a big Government sponsored site, I have been watching, presented as I think was intended but, in FF, the code outputted instead of the html, with the exception of one of the images.

Bazz

[mark87]

OK so Access can be used in conjunction with PHP but only on an M$ server?

Yup.

Up until recently, a big Government sponsored site, I have been watching, presented as I think was intended but, in FF, the code outputted instead of the html, with the exception of one of the images.

Oh?