Access as an HTTP server (winsock API question)

[Reuel]

What would it take for me to use MS Access as a web server? Using controls on a form is not an option, as they are not licensed on this machine. What I need is to be able to create a winsock object that can listen and respond to http requests exclusively through code. Anybody have any ideas? The only stuff I could find from Microsoft was for C??.

 

[psemianonymous]

Whoa, this is such an odd question! Why in the world would you want to have Access host as an http server? If you tell me what you're trying to accomplish, maybe I can point you in a different (better) direction?

...for one thing, VBA isn't the greatest way to do threading, which your HTTP server would almost absolutely have to be able to do.

 

[Reuel]

It will not be a full-fledged server. I just want a way to use a standard web browser interface to send commands to an Access application. Rather than hosting, I'm just going to set it up so someone can type "

http://132.24.19.102/process"

and the database will run a morning process, and reply to the request with the process's results. This is only due to limitations in our network, such as permissions, etc. Another aspect is to have a recurring function running at work, behind a firewall, that will check the status of a database at home, not behind a firewall, and perform operations depending on the response from the computer at home. If you have another idea that would work better without installing software, let me know.

 

[psemianonymous]

Yes, if this is a morning thing, set up something in the task scheduler to run every morning. Have it email the results to you if you're outside the network or otherwise unavailable.

If this is an on-demand sort of thing, you can set up an HTTP connection through IIS...you can do something in CGI (or better: ASP) that calls the access database's process, then returns results sometime later (or still have the database email you the results).

Creating an entire HTTP server...I just don't see it, that's all.

 

[Reuel]

I can very easily and quickly create the server in Visual Basic. I have already done something similar on VB6 so I could chat with my girls at home. The trouble is, Access 2003 will not accept a Winsock control on the forms. It says that ActiveX control is not licensed.

The program I did at home allows me to type "

http://68.33.1.1/say:Hi,

girls!" and the answering program pops up a message that says, "Hi, girls!" When I think they've had enough time to answer, I type "

http://68.33.1.1/get"

and their answers are returned.

I can make a VB6 program for a home computer that will fix everything, but I would have to do it at home, which means I don't get paid for my work. I'd rather avoid that if at all possible. If I had basic winsock functions available to me in Access somehow, I could do it.