Intranet database connectivity CFICSE 1999

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Intranet database connectivityCFICSE 1999

• Lt Jean Lambert
• 3 Wing Bagotville
• Groupe Infrastructure
• ittso.3wing_at_videotron.ca
• [phone] ext. 8044

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Introduction

• Statelessness of HTML
• nature of HTML
• absence of active session
• Increasing amount of information
• need for MIS
• Difficult to maintain
• multiple sources of data
• Publishing on the web
• documentation available on the intranet
• Subject applied to CE in Bagotville

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Static vs Dynamic

• IT community needed a single platform
• Came the internet and the web browsers
• HTML standards
• text only
• formatting
• tables
• images
• multimedia (audio, animations, video, )
• Need to dynamically display information
• User interaction (web application)

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Advantages of online publishing

• process time savings
• online publishing takes less time than paper
  publishing
• less friction
• real-time information
• because its easy to update, changes can be
  distributed immediately
• one source
• a unique source of data reduces confusion,
  delays, frustration and misinformation
• availability
• the intranet is open 24/24, 7 days a week

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What about databases ?

• Databases
• databases can use those advantages
• Updated information on demand
• Answer to budget cuts
• Frequently, in large organisations, information
  is available that others could use if they knew
  it existed
• without an intranet, access to databases content
  may require using different software, proceed in
  a hierarchy of folders and subfolders, etc..

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Dynamic data on a web page ?

• The following tools / technologies are available
  to connect a database to a web page
• CGI (Common Gateway Interface) scripts
• most common
• cgi-bin
• runs on the server
• tend to create bottleneck (not compiled)
• written in Perl, C or VB
• ISAPI (Internet Server Application Prog.
  Interface)
• runs on Microsoft products
• ideal for high-performance requirements
• more complicated to build
• written using C
• NSAPI runs on Netscape server

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Dynamic data on a web page ?

• Java script VB script
• easy to implement
• server friendly
• the code is in the HTML
• DHTML
• based on cascading-stylesheet specifications
• combines HTML, Java Java script
• improves multimedia capabalities
• can respond to user actions
• XML (eXtensible markup language)
• still fairly new
• defines a data-markup language
• ltfirstNamegt..lt/firstNamegt
• supported only by IE 5 for now

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Dynamic data on a web page ?

• ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) ASP
• runs on a server in ASP (Active server page)
• access and manipulate data
• developed by Microsoft
• easily implemented using VB6
• ActiveX objects linked together on a web page
  using scripting (VB or Java)
• based on COM objects and OLE DB connectivity
• no need for ODBC
• runs on IIS 4.0 (Internet Information Server), on
  w95, NT workstation or server

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Tools

• Marcomedia Dreamweaver 2.0
• design rapidly a web page using templates
• clean HTML
• WYSIWYG
• Macromedia Drumbeat 2000
• ASP or JSP
• can connect to Oracle, SQL server, Access and
  SyBase
• Visual Studio (C, J, FoxPro, VB, InterDev)

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Example of application

• Software Change Request
• all the info gathered on a single server
• deployment ? A single URL
• no installation (fewer...) problems related to
  the target platforms
• Building list
• one source
• exportable to excel
• the centre of our business

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Conclusion

• The network is the computer
• Back to mainframe world ?
• Technology still not fully understood

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References

• Understanding Intranet
• Tyson Greer
• Microsoft Press
• ISBN 1-57231-702-7
• Active Server Pages
• Sanjaya Hettihewa
• Sams
• ISBN 0-672-31333-2
• ZD Net
• www.zdnet.com/devhead