email notification, when database updated?

[Raphael Gluck]

Hi,

Is it possible for one to program one's pages as such that when a database
table is updated over the web, via a form, that an e-mail confirmation is
sent to a specified address, notifying the update has taken place?
If so is there a tutorial out there that is easy to understand and
implement?

Thanks so much

Raphael

 

[Aaron Bertrand - MVP]

Sure, if you're using SQL Server, you can use a trigger to do this, however
it would be more efficient to just call the e-mail from the stored procedure
that updates the table.
(see http://www.aspfaq.com/2403)

If you're using Access, you can have your form handler send mail directly
from ASP.
(see http://www.aspfaq.com/2119 / http://www.aspfaq.com/2026)

 

[Aaron Bertrand - MVP]

I have one page on my site that is technically a feedback form, that
updates

a feedback table in my Database,

So send an e-mail from this page. This is not complicated at all.

 

[jason]

I think you need to distinguish between whether you wish to recieve an email
notification if a new user is added to your database...OR....

If you actually need to create an AUDIT trail of the changes made to your
products/inventory/items etc by the administrator in your online admin
section with regards:

1. EDITS
2. INSERTIONS
3. DELETES.

In this situation, you could:

1. Create duplicate audit tables of your primary tables: eg: Primary:
Inventory table and Audit: Audit table:

The audit table would contain all the fields in the primary table PLUS:
AuditType (eg: edit), AuditDate, AuditPerson (eg Administrator).

Thus: If the adminstatror 'edits' the inventory table it automatically
updates the audit table and inserts all the same data plus: EDIT,
27/05/2003, Administrator.

You could then generate a daily report to view all the different changes to
the system and trigger other events based on this.

Future challenges could include trying to do automatic email notifications
to your customers that new inventory has been added. You then run into
problems with limiit restrictions imposed on your host eg: 800 emails per
day via CDO or aspEmail.

You could buy a list sever - but more complex and/or expensive.

You could buy the product called Access Emailer but this only works locally
off your drive. You would then need to figure a way to sync the offline and
online acess databases to allow you to leverage the local Access Emailer.

These are actually problems I am grappling with and compouned by fact that
my engine local database is a different format: Act! which means I have to
consider user restrictions and the possibility of using other add-ons which
have limited programming api potential.

Read more on audit trails here for access 2000:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=Audit+trail+for+acces
s+2000

Hth
Jason

When the administrator updates the inventory table it also updates the audit
able

 

[Raphael Gluck]

thanks Jason for that
Certainly something to read up on, though i guess at the moment i am just
looking for something simple

But thanks for taking the time to help me

Raphael

 

[Dean J. Garrett]

Simple indeed. That's is one of the beauties of eCritera.net, you get all
these
features for one low monthly fee ... instead of having to learn programming
yourself. Its a matter of how valuable your own time is.

Nobody mentioned in this newsgroup yet, but you're going to have to learn
the CDONTS API in order to do what you're talking about.

Cheers,

 

[Dean J. Garrett]

I should have simply said CDO (Collaborative Data Objects) is the way to go.
Yes, I know NTS was deprecated.