how robust is Access?

[guu]

I am considering to use MS Access 2000 for a membership database.
The database needs to include:
member-name,address, etc.
employee-name,address, etc.
the ability to have people sign up for seminars and pay for seminars, and purchase items online from our website.
the ability to have a search engine (possibly google) for the website to search pages, items, and unrestricted member and staff information only within the website (no access to to

http://www).

Also, restricted templates for various members to update their own department information without the ability to completely destroy everything else.
The biggest issues are the search ability, and the online payment ability,
and following is the ability to increase the functionality as the site develops.
-Thanks

 

[Darrylles]

Hi,

None of your specified requirements actually require 'robustness' - they simply require database functionality.

If you are asking if Access can store this info. - then yes it can.

If you are asking if Access can facilitate what you want - without a web development tool, then no it can't.
It's a database, with user interface development capability.
It is not a web-development tool.

It can 'do' everything that you ask from a PC (rather than Web) perspective.
You would then need a web-development tool to interface with the Access tables.

If in the future, Access is falling down because of the masses of data that you store and masses of transactions, then it's relatively easy to move a current Access database across to SQL Server.

Much more important, is that you design the database as a normalized relational database - this is what makes a database 'robust'.

Regards,

Darrylle

"Never argue with an idiot, he'll bring you down to his level - then beat you with experience." darrylles@totalise.co.uk

 

[guu]

Ok,
thankyou,
So, I understand from your comment: if the database is well designed (normalized) then it will have the ability to store the required data and it's up to the web tool to provide the functionality I require. So, the following question is probably obvious.....any recommendations on a good web tool that works well with Access and offers the functionality I need?
Also, for the simple tasks I am trying to accomplish, is there a justification for the expense of SQL Server, or would a recommendation be to start with Access and only move to SQL Server when the load gets to much for Access?
-Thanks from Guu

 

[jrbarnett]

Guu

There are a number of web scripting languages that can interface to a relational database. They are as follows:

PHP scripting language on Apache web server (usually hosted on Linux but there is a Win32 version).
ASP scripting language in VBscript or JScript hosted on Microsoft IIS (Free for all server OSes from NT 4 onwards). IIS 5 Included with Win2K. A cut down version called Personal Web server is available for the workstation OSes from 98 upwards.
Office 2000 and XP include a cut down version of SQL Server called MSDE which allows 5 concurrent connections, and can be hosted on any reasonable spec box from Windows 98 upwards. However, because of the connection limitation it is not really suited for major system rollout, only for design and testing.

John

 

[GingerR]

also, depending on the size of your organization, we've all seen the web sites which deal directly with what you want to do, especially payments. I know that when i register for a community college course, the payment bit goes outside of the comm college site, to some third-party site that handles credit cards and such. i dont know all of the specifics but it may be worth paying someone else to deal with that bit of it.