strange requirement-complex database task

[earlrainer]

Its was a bit difficult for me to understand what the exact requirement was.
But hope you guys understand it.


I have to develop a program in delphi that accesses a database.
This seems quite a straight forward process.

But the catch here is that the database will be running on the internet (i.e on a machine with a web server)

i.e although I know the database is running on a machine with IP Address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx , I am not allowed to
directly connect to the database simply by creating a ODBC/DSN pointing it to that host.

I am trying to find out how can I access that database.

The only thing that comes to my mind is to create a web page and access that web page through my delphi application.
So the web page will act as a medium between my application and the database.

The problem is I dont know how to do that.

Can you give me any pointers to solve the problem.

is there any other method . I heard a lot about web services ,SOAP etc.
what are these? can they be useful to me in this particular problem.

 

[footpad]

earlrainer,

I'm not sure why you wouldn't be allowed to connect to the data source via ODBC; that's sort of one of the main mechanisms. Were you told why that wouldn't be an option?

You may be able to use a web service (e.g. SOAP), but that will require something to be available on the server. Likewise, you might be able to use something like a CGI script to handle the data access on the server, but that would be an awful lot of work and seems like overkill.

Perhaps you could talk to the administrator of the server in question for some ideas?

Hope this helps...

-- Lance

 

[earlrainer]

Lance,

They do not want to provide direct access to the database because of security reasons.
They have blocked the database port.so the only port open is 80 HTTP.
so i can connect to database only through 80.

Can you comment a bit more on SOAP

 

[Oppenhiemer]

The exact method to use will depend on 2 main factors,Operating system and Database.

If its WindowsXP, 2000 etc then you can use IIS which is shipped with both. You can then install the .Net framework (available free I think from MIcrosoft) and something like the Firebird .Net provider to access an Interbase database on the server.

Restricting Access to Port 80 is placing many restrictions on development though i think.

Opp.

 

[earlrainer]

Oppenhiemer,

unfortunately it is a MYSQL database running on a linux machine.

Is it possible to fill in fields in a html form directly from a delphi program.

 

[michaenh]

Hi there...

I am also interested in Web services and SOAP.
I think Webservices, SOAP you can connect to database via HTTP. I am looking for a method to transfer xml data back/forward to database through HTTP and I think Webservice will be interesting. Ex. our customer can retrieve our xml data through our database.

Another solution I believe is to use Indy component with cgi.

But the most of all I am really interested in a way to convert win 32application to a .Net application. I am looking forward to se how Octan version(maybe is out by november).. well... I hope.

A few days ago I was on Borland C# with .Net seminar. The showed som ex. with .Net and webservices, and development life cycle, starteam, etc. I asked one of the expert about converting win32 application to .Net application. It was not possible with Borland C#, but he didnt know about the coming Delphi version...

cheers,
mha

 

[Oppenhiemer]

I dont personally have much experience with MySql im afraid. But you may want to check out..

http://www.productivity.org/projects/tmysql/

A visual compnent that does not require BDE or ODBC to connect to the database.

Also I believe that DBExpress compnents (that come with Delphi) allow you to access MySqL database. Here is a link you may find useful..

http://delphi.about.com/cs/mysql/index.htm

Opp.

 

[earlrainer]

Yes, I think the solution lies in using a CGI application on the server or use XMl somehow.

But can I access a CGI directly from my delphi program?

 

[michaenh]

Hi

Check Indy Projects:

http://www.nevrona.com/Indy/Articles.html

- Automatic file version check over the web.

simple procedure on how to get version information based on a simple text file saved on your webserver.

Instead of text file.. maybe somehow database...

OR SOAP is a keyword..



cheers,
mha