2. ASPRunnerPro General questions
  3. General Access & ASPRunner advice
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General Access & ASPRunner advice

 		1/11/2007 9:10:24 PM
ASPRunnerPro General questions
N
 networktrade author

Hi - I come from the Access perspective and do database for small companies all the time. Am not a web programmer at all. Even small companies with vanilla Access i.e. split database on their office lan with ~3-10 users are needing a web interface - typically for a person out of town. i.e. not a pure 100% web database at all....only "web access" to their database.
These smaller businesses generally are not oriented to hosting a web server at their site. They tend to have their web site hosted by an ISP.

  1. ASPrunner can connect to the backend Access mdb while the regular Access front end is still being used ?
  2. Is there any feasible way to have the Access staying in their office while the ASPrunner pages are hosted by an ISP? (I doubt it...would probably be horrifically slow...)
  3. Presuming not for item 2; what thoughts might one have on consolidating/retrieving/syncing data that resides at a web server to the Access running in the office.
  4. In reviewing the ASPRunner product features - it appears I believe I am only using the Access back end Tables. Do I save any development time with any re-use of the Front End design of Forms, Queries, and Reports?
    Appreciate all input....thanks in advance....
Sergey Kornilov admin 1/11/2007

See my answers below.

  1. ASPRunner, ASP pages and Access itself are able to use the same database simultaneously.
  2. No. Access database should located on the same box or the same intranet where ASP pages reside.
  3. MS Access supports some synchronization however I haven't tried it.
  4. In ASPRunner you are able to use Tables and Queries. Forms and Reports need to be re-created from the scratch.
    As far as I can see the easiest solution will be to host ASP application in house.

    They don't really need a big web server. Any Windows XP Pro box with external IP address will work just fine for this purpose.

    And they can continue using plain MS Access application the same time.
K
 		kconzel 1/11/2007

I am also a small time developer for a school district. If you put a little thought into it, you can probably find a soln to most of the items below for what you want to do. I put advance notice on the site if I have to work with the pages or database itself. Using ASPRunner pages, I can export to Excel the data daily or download the database if I have to, and then upload it again. If you have it web-based, there's really not any need to have a form too. Reports, OK, still working through that.

Anyway, ASPRunner has been a lifesaver for me, saving me incredible amounts of time and the support is tremendous.

Once you start using it, I'm sure you'll be hooked.

Hope you find all the answers you need.

An Avid Newbie Fan

See my answers below.


  1. ASPRunner, ASP pages and Access itself are able to use the same database simultaneously.
  2. No. Access database should located on the same box or the same intranet where ASP pages reside.
  3. MS Access supports some synchronization however I haven't tried it.
  4. In ASPRunner you are able to use Tables and Queries. Forms and Reports need to be re-created from the scratch.
    As far as I can see the easiest solution will be to host ASP application in house.

    They don't really need a big web server. Any Windows XP Pro box with external IP address will work just fine for this purpose.

    And they can continue using plain MS Access application the same time.
N
 		networktrade author 1/12/2007

Thanks for reply - you confirmed my guesses. Am still a little gun shy about the hosting management. Although a PC with XP/Pro is no big deal. But their internet connection isn't oriented to having an external url assigned - so they will need to change their service subscription with their ISP...and then the trouble shooting or potentially firewalls too ....It adds a whole ball of wax to consider. And like I say - I'm really just an Access developer.
Sergey Kornilov admin 1/15/2007

Unfortunately you cannot have both.
Either database is accessible from anywhere and resides on ISP's web server or it runs on the local box in the office.
If they have a cable/DSL internet connection dynamic DNS can solve URL issue.

Search for dynamic DNS in Google. A number of services and some of them are free:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navc...p;q=dynamic+DNS