Converting or re-writing Access database into a website

[Micellar]

Hello all,

My neighbour has a local history database created in an older version of Access (2010, which I believe was converted from a much older 2003). He's spent many years adding data, which has thousands of records, and as far as I can see the structure and forms are well designed and the data is of historical significance. He'd like to gift the database to our local area so everyone can access it, so obviously it'll need converting/re-writing to a publically accessible website.

The basic functionality on the website will be searching for records with dates, text and drop-down/combos, and returning the results in user friendly lists and forms. No data entry will be required. It'll need to be hosted to the public online, I'm helping him during the holidays as a volunteer to keep costs to a minimum.

I haven't used Access for about 7 years, but I did used to write applications using it and have good knowledge of relational design, VBA, SQL queries and so on. However I've no idea what to suggest as the best solution to convert or redesign this project to an on-line system/website would be (without spending a large sum of money), or if there are any current Microsoft tools which can do this at all. If the data was moved into an SQL database for example, do tools exist to generate a web front end for the forms creating dynamic web pages, or a MS RAD tool to do this? Or is it a case of starting again (and if so what do users of Access recommend reviewing)? I've spent time reading various pages from Microsoft regarding Azure and PowerApps they appear to be for closed internal apps rather than public facing websites. I'm looking for some general advice and starting points please, and if anyone has attempted anything similar recently.


Many thanks in advance!

[Minty]

No simple way unfortunately, but you could definitely move the data to a SQL server very easily, and then you need a Web page designed and built to get at the data.
There aer a lot of options for the second part but none of them are what you would think of as RAD, other than possibly something like Wordpress?

[NoellaG]

If you upload them to SQL Server, it's very easy to publish them with SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services). Normally you publish those on the intranet but, taking the appropriate safety measures, you can publish the pages to the internet.

[Micron]

Don't web hosting providers offer databases like MySql, Oracle and such? That won't fill the forms void though.

[Micellar]

Thanks all for your responses. I think the biggest issue with be a simple front end, which he'll be able to manage and one which won't cost a lot to develop and setup.

Yes, most webhosts offer mySQL as standard as it's the database for WordPress, so the back-end wouldn't be an issue.

I'll investigate if there are any good WordPress plugins which can handle such a project.

Does seem a real gap in the market that there isn't a good web based database front end creation tool for forms/webpages, that can easily connect to SQL Server or a mySQL database, and can generate code (PHP perhaps?) that can run in a standard hosting environment.