webpage database

[overworked]

Ok, what I am trying to do is solve a problem we have at work with the way we search for equipment we need that is stored. Each piece of 100s of pieces of equipment we have has a code R(ack)1-S(tencil)9-A(B or C) (R1-S9-A). We have been going back and forth between Microsoft Access and Microsoft Excel but the same problem remains: workers can accidently change fields when searching for the correct stencil. So i thought, ok fine, make a webpage out of it.

I've been searching the website and there's so much information available but I don't know what any of it's applications would be. ASPs, PHPs, HTML, CSS wonderful! How can I use it? Can I use plain HTML? Would CSS, ASP, PHP be better? I have HTML memorized, i've been learning CSS and i don't know any other codecs at all. All I want out of this page is a place for a search box where we enter the assembly number we're building and a search button to submit it. Then a new page loads with the correct stencil number.

I could spend hours/days/weeks learning all the codecs on your site and deciding myself but I have a feeling many of you have done all this work for me and can help me skip a few steps :D

I would appreciate any input. Thanks!

[afigueroa]

You might be a bit better off using access and excel. For one: html, css, php, asp, etc., are not codecs. html and css are markup languages, whereas php and asp are server-side scripting languages. To provide the visual of your web application, you'd use x/html+css, as well as php (or asp) for backend (data handling).

[Crazy Cooter]

Since you have the info in excel, you can generate static HTML pages real easy. The code will be ugly, but for your purposes it wouldn't matter.

METHOD 1:
Insert a new worksheet and make a template of how you want the data to appear. Use the LOOKUP function to lookup the assembly number and display the details from the "data" worksheet. They would still be in the excel document, but not in the actual data.

METHOD 2 (how I would do it):
Just save the original worksheet as a HTML document (file->save as). Let the end user do a search->find in document in their browser. They enter the assembly number and it should jump right to the proper entry. They don't even need excel on their PC to do this method.

[Hydro]

I think what he is trying to say is that he wants a Web based Application that will only change details if/when/based on permissions of any given user to prevent corruption of the data that they currently have.

@ Overworked: If you want to do it easily then I would suggest using your Access database with ASP as your server side language. What you are asking for seems like an easy enough web application to build.