news said:
I'm trying my dambed hardest to create a web page that searches through a
database for various bits of info and then displays the results... a bit
like jobsites... can any one help me on how to make this work.
Basically I need to know how can users input data into the table and how
they can extract it... and with regards to the actual database can I use
excel or do I have to creat an online one?
Any and all suggestions would be of use.
Many thanks to all.
This task is a bit beyond HTML. You'll need to work with server-side
scripting and databases.
I would recommend using PHP as your scripting language (though there are
many to chose from). I found it easy to learn and quite powerful in it's
application.
As far as the database, you will not be able to use Excel on the Web. While
Microsoft provides the capability to work with an Excel spreadsheet online,
this capability is far from universally available (only recent versions of
IE can do it) and even when possible your users could not save new data to
the spreadsheet. I'd recommend you use a true database for your
application: MySQL. This will give you all of the power of Access (and then
some), but will be available for your online guests.
You can find a lot of help for both PHP and MySQL. There are dozens of
online tutorials for both, along with a lot of other helpful articles. You
can also find a lot of good books in your local library or bookstore that
will teach you how to use PHP and MySQL. In fact, your request is so
popular that there are any number of books that cover both topics in the
same book.
Finally, you need to check with your Web hosting service to see what tools
they make available to you. You will likely find that the 10M or so that
your Internet Service Provider gives you for your personal home page
includes no access to any sort of server-side scripting. However, most
professional Web hosting services will provide both PHP and MySQL (though
there are certainly exceptions). You can Google for "web host" to find one
that provides the services you want at a reasonable price.
I hope this helps. Good luck with your project.
--George
