Microsoft dbWeb, in a Nutshell
May 1996
The dbWeb service
The dbWeb administrator
Benefits of using dbWeb
Microsoft® dbWeb has two major components:
- A Windows NT® Server service (called the dbWeb service)
- A graphical user interface (called the dbWeb administrator)
The dbWeb service processes the data retrieval requests, and formats and displays the results. The results are displayed based on the specifications you provide by using the dbWeb administrator. You can control how much of your data the visitor sees, what fields are used in queries, and whether the visitor can insert, update, or delete records.The interaction between the dbWeb service, the dbWeb administrator, and Internet clients is illustrated below.
![[DBW2280B 5579 bytes ]](/workshop/prog/dbweb/DBW2280B.GIF)
Microsoft dbWeb 1.1 architecture
The dbWeb service
The dbWeb service is the component that handles the data processing between your ODBC data source and Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS). This component processes the queries the user enters from a Web browser (for example, Microsoft Internet Explorer), and handles the communications between the browser, the ODBC data source, and IIS to display the results on a Web page. The dbWeb service is an ISAPI (Internet Server Application Programming Interface) application, thus providing better performance and easier setup than a CGI application.
The dbWeb administrator
The Microsoft dbWeb administrator creates HTML pages that can be displayed with Web browsers.
Microsoft dbWeb uses schemas to control how the database information is published on the Internet. Schemas define the query and resulting HTML pages that are displayed on the Web.
No HTML or ISAPI programming knowledge is necessary to create the dbWeb schemas. The dbWeb administrator provides an interactive Schema Wizard, which uses questions and answers to create the schemas. The wizard allows you to:
- Specify search fields for a Query-by-Example (QBE) Web page.
- Choose the data fields that will appear on a tabular Web page showing a list of the records.
- Specify jumps from the list of records to a single record displayed on a Freeform Web page.
Benefits of using Microsoft dbWeb
Here are some of the advantages of using Microsoft dbWeb:
Creates instant Web pages. You can use Microsoft dbWeb to publish information in HTML format without programming in HTML or the Internet Server Application Programming Interface (ISAPI). dbWeb supports dynamic data queries and basic row manipulation. You can also customize your Web pages using the DBX editor and the methods provided with the dbWeb administrator.
Provides an easy-to-use interface and customization. Microsoft dbWeb administrator offers several levels of assistance in creating your Web pages:
- Schema Wizard, which prompts you with a series of questions, and then uses your answers to create a schema automatically. A schema defines the query and results Web pages.
- Schema window with tabs for creating and modifying a schema: You can choose data sources, set properties for fields on the Query-by-Example (QBE) Web page, and set properties such as Automatic Links to display a single record from the tabular Web page.
- Customizable templates for Web pages.
- DBX editor to fully customize your Web pages by entering HTML code directly into the specification for the Web page.
- Properties and methods for complete control of your Web pages.
- Links with properties you can set easily to jump to data displayed in other schemas or to quickly drill down from a tabular results page to a single record page.
Connects to diverse data sources. You can use a variety of client/server and desktop databases with Microsoft dbWeb:- Microsoft SQL Server
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Visual FoxPro
- ORACLE®
- Other databases that support 32-bit ODBC
Offers client/server functionality. With Microsoft dbWeb you can easily:- Connect to a wide range of data sources.
- Control which tables and fields are available for display or update. In the Schema window, you choose which fields appear on your Web pages.
- Set properties to allow updates, deletes, and inserts on your database.
- Write procedures to enforce business rules.
Back to the Microsoft dbWeb home page