Topic awaiting preservation: serious db confusion... (Page 1 of 1)

All righty, I guess it's time for me to hunker down and learn something useful with some databases. Well I just need one database for now, so let's start with that.

Should be real simple, but the guy before me that built the site has a good bit of "extra" stuff that doesn't really work right. Mostly the problem with his stuff is flash buttons for the navigation, which is screwy, but semi-functional none-the-less if you know what you're doing.

Anyways, on topic... Another problem with this is the database he had set up. Theoretically, a student will go to a page and fill out a form and submit it to a database on the main server. He did everything in FrontPage (as everyone at the univ does when they need to make a page, blech, give me a good 'ole notepad anytime ), so I am having trouble correcting the problem. Ah, the problem, yes, well, when you submit your data it says it sent it, and doesn't give any errors (unable to connect to db, unable to open db, etc), and displays the info they sent on the next page that load after submitting. Then you go to check the db, and guess what, no data... I spent about 3 hours this afternoon 'tinkering' with the db properties, field values/settings, etc. and got it to work without changing anything important, or so I thought, (mostly just changing datatypes then changing them back, moving the primary key, swapping field positions, stuff like that). But like I said, after about 2.5 hours, it was working fine, as long as I was under my user profile, on that specific computer I 'tinkered' with the db from. As soon as I moved computers, it wouldn't work, if I tried a different profile on the computer I was at it wouldn't work, the I tried my profile again on that same computer and it stopped working again. None of the things I changed were saved once I logged off (mostly just a lot of comment lines, trying to make sense of the stuff the other guy didn't explain).

Combine this with the navigation problems (which have always been present, unlike the db probs that apparently just started this semester. I don't really know because this is my first semester working in the COSC lab) and I decided/volunteered/was asked to make a quasi-new site, just using the stuff that worked correctly from this one, which isn't a whole lot...

Yea, enough background on this so far I think... My first question in this undertaking...
1)We have Microsoft Access (I believe 2002) set up, and that's what's being used currently. And a research team from last summer did a bunch of work with php, so it too is installed on the server. Can I use php to work with Access? I know it works with MySQL and related, but I'm not sure if we have that available (gonna have to look through the pile of new software I get to play with that hasn't been installed yet, if so, I'll use that). I believe we also have Oracle, but for some reason I want to say it's just available from the Sun computers that no one uses except for a couple research teams.
2)Also, if anyone has any ideas on something to try with the current set-up (the MS Access probs), if you've had similar problems, or anything, I'd love to hear your thoughts/ideas.

I suppose that's about it for now, the new design is still being scratched down on paper, but I'll ask for opinions/advise here (or in site reviews) once I get something coherent figured out.

Much thanks in advance


________________________________________________________________
-- Jack of all trades, master of that which has my attention at
the moment.

Unoriginal Cell 693

sure you can Check this for the relvant PHP docs (I haven't done it personally but that should get you going. Also moving forward you may want to check out the PEAR database abstraction API If you are not familiar, database abstraction layers basically allow you to write one set of code but easily switch databases without having to change your code. It may take some time since you need to install the whole PEAR package but it should help you moving forward since it sounds like you have a pretty transient setup there.



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

Woohoo, I think I found a new friend here haha. Thanks for the links.

Time for "stupid" questions:
Is Access a SQL database?

Does the term 'SQL' kind of encompass all databases?
I know that SQL = structured query languague, so is SQL the generally accepted method of 'communicating' with a database? Are Oracle, Access, MySQL, mSQL, (all the other microsoft xSQL's) all just different types of SQL databases that just have a varying interface?

Sometimes the most basic stuff is the hardest to find information on...

[This message has been edited by Lord_Fukutoku (edited 09-08-2002).]

Yeah p[retty much . I think Access is is SQL: I've never used it though. SQL


SQL is a common language for accacessing db'x. 90% of the time you can just use base SQL and be fine.. THe ohter 10% is mosly addictions to the language but changes from platform to platform.



.:[ Never resist a perfect moment ]:.

Hi there,

If you've been through the code, and you think the code should be working and infact the code works when you sit there and test it...
Well 99% of the time the problem you are having is permissions for the webuser. If this is running on an IIS server, than make sure that the directory in which the database resides has WRITE permissions (hope that UBB code worked). Assign WRITE permissions for that particular folder for the Everyone account (it may be wise to move the DB to a sub-directory, something like "data" if it isn't all ready). Oh, and make sure the DB is local to the calling page/script (that is, within the same folder or subfolder of that folder).

Karl

PS: you can use SQL against your access database. I wouldn't call it a SQL database however. I wouldn't even call MySQL a sql database, however I'd say MySQL is a truer form of a SQL DB... *stop jabbering Karl*


Karl www.AZProGolf.com
karl@azprogolf.com

[This message has been edited by Karl (edited 09-09-2002).]