Complex query system for map database

[brian.tunks]

OK. Here goes. I have an access database full of maps, and in the table system they are categorized by Country, Edition, Type, Scale, Grid, Date, Quantity, etc. I'm doing this under orders from a superior, and what he wants is a system set up so that any user can visit a web page and type information into set fields, and pull up all applicaple results. I.e., if a user were to type in "India" into the country field, then it would present them with a list of all maps of any location in India. If they typed in "Australia" into country and "<100" into the quantity field, it would show all maps of which there are less than 100 in our inventory. I don't really know where to get started on this, and I don't want to begin adding hundreds upon hundreds of maps to my database before I figure this thing out. Any help?

[TheShabz]

getting what you want done within Access is no problem. What you will run into is getting Access 2003 to function on the web. I have personally never tried to get Access on the web but have heard many many horror stories. Microsoft has gotten much better with web compatibility with Access 2007 and later. I'd highly recommend you upgrade to one of those versions or use a combination of MySQL/PHP. most webhosts come with MySQL supported so all you would need to do is move the table(s) from Access to MySQL (google will show you many many options for this). PHP is where you will get the value in this. PHP will replace the Access forms. it is designed for the web and works very well with MySQL.

Hope this gets you on the right path or at least stops the spinning.

[NTC]

The prior post reply is essentially correct. If one's requirement is a web application - then Access is not the correct product choice. Microsoft is enabling Access with web features via their Sharepoint product which is a key product in corporate environments - but this is for more convenient data sharing and not be considered a comprehensive web site development tool. If one is starting from scratch with a web requirement - then there is a wide choice of tools. The LAMP stack is very popular for independent web sites (not prior aligned to a vendor environment i.e. IBM, Microsoft, etc.)