HTTP driver for ODBC?

[tbirnseth]

Not sure I have the nomenclature correct but here's what I'm trying to accomplish. I have zero experience with ODBC but I had some thoughts on the problem but not sure how to solve it.

Here's the problem:
There's a standalone application that runs on a client machine. It wants an ODBC connection to my applicatin database to retrieve some shipping information, then to write back the reference number. Unfortunately, the database is behind a firewall and is inaccessible via normal ODBC drivers. My Web application has full access to the data, https environment, etc. but I can't use a standard ODBC connection due to DB ports not being exposed. I have zero access to the stand-alone application other than through ODBC.

My thoughts on a solution:
I was wondering if there exists an http driver for ODBC that would/could call a PHP page via https and POST the requested data elements to it. This PHP page would collect the data requested (with authentication) and ship it back (maybe in XML?). Security would be provided by the application (on the server) and the data should be encrypted via https.

Does anyone know of such a beast? Or is there another solution via normal RPC or something.

Like I said, I really have no experience with ODBC but would sure like to solve this problem.

Thanks for any help,
tony

[chazzy]

umm i have no clue why you feel that you need ODBC. You should use a programming language to retrieve data from a page that can connect to it (behind the firewall). For example, you can use PHP's "fopen" to open a page over HTTP

http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.fopen.php

[tbirnseth]

I'm not generating the request. I.e. the shipping application wants to obtain data about shipping information from my web application. I.e. a user opens the shipping app installed on their client system, it then opens the configured ODBC connection and reads the data and does its work. Then it writes back the reference number through the ODBC interface.

If I were making the request and the shipping app was waiting on the event, there'd be no problem.

Basically the shipping app says => "Give me the order/shipping info you want me to ship, I'll process it all and print your lables, etc. Then I'll give you back the reference number, but I only understand ODBC".

So I'm wondering if there's anyone who's put together a driver that effectively opens a https:page, provides some authentication info in the POST and then lets me return it an XML file (preferred), csv file or some other format of the data.

Does this make more sense?

tony

[chazzy]

What you're now describing is a web service. The shipping application has to learn to speak more languages (it's speaking in tongues! tongues!)

Either way, your solution is not ODBC. ODBC stands for Open Database Connector/Connection. They are not secure. They will not work with SSL. They do not know HTTP/HTTPS.