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firegryphon3207

05-15-2003, 04:16 PM

I'm a little lost and confused. I'm the webmaster for a small nonprofit. I have this job by the sheer virtue of being the only one there who has a clue about how websites come to be. I'm not a beginner when it comes to most things like html and css, and not exactly a slacker with most client side scripting. But I'm about as green as you can get with servier side scripting. Someone came up with the great idea that we should make a particular database accessible to our users.
So this is where I am....We want people input say like a name into a form click a "search" button and have another "dynamic" page come up that would contain information from the database. I've got some of the "education and understanding" to do it. I've even got the time to learn new stuff (the asp)- but at the moment I"m pretty clueless as to where to go to learn what I need to learn and how to put together with what I know and now totally confused after searching through a maze of tutorials already. The database will be access and loaded on the webserver as access (hosting guy:yeah access is fine). It's my understanding that by sticking with the access (we are not the creators of this database but we use access for our stuff anyway) I would have to use asp on those pages. I'm lost....

Ribeyed

05-15-2003, 05:29 PM

Hi,
I will try to help you in any way i can. Would it be possible to see the database structure that you need to write the code for?
The company i work for specializes in providing IT services for the voluntary sector and I would be will to offer you help to produce the asp code you need for your project.

firegryphon3207

05-15-2003, 05:35 PM

actually, the entire database is available for download. However, on the download page is also the Data Element Dictionary, in both word and pdf.

Get the DED here, or the whole database if you want (http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/mfh/exp/mfhdiscl.cfm)

Thanks, I really appreciate the help!

khaki

05-16-2003, 10:13 AM

hi firegryphon3207...

i just responded to your other post in the General forum:

http://forums.webdeveloper.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9686

(i guess that i should have checked here before i did that :rolleyes: )

anyway....
the database that you reference here is rather large... so i'm not going to download it (sorry :( ).

but try the page that i did in the other thread and apply your database to it.

good luck...
;) k

firegryphon3207

05-16-2003, 12:52 PM

Oh, I didn't actually mean for anyone to download the actual database unless they REALLY wanted to. It was more to reference the DED, it has a listing of the tables and field names.

Actually the code wasn't very confusing. (which means there's hope for me yet). So essentially, since the page where the form exists (as it is planned to be a seperate page) doesn't require any server scripting (beyond posting the form results)? This is what I had originally thought, but I want to be sure.

and I could insert

<% = rs.Fields("name_of_field_3") %>

where I want the information to appear? I'm trying to figure out how this all fits in with an existing "blank" page layout. The page is layed out with a table, and all text appears within a nested table cell anyway....let me give an example
<%
CODE REFERENCED IN POST RE: FORM RESULTS
%>
<%
CODE RE: ESTABLISHING CONNECTION TO AND QUERYING THE DATABASE
<%
<html>
<HTML CODE THAT KEEPS PAGE CONSISTANT WITH REST OF SITE>
<TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="5" WIDTH="100%">

<TR>
<TD BGCOLOR="#CDC198" VALIGN="TOP">

<TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="5">
<MORE HTML AND AN INCLUDE>
</TABLE>
</TD>
</TR>

<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP">
<TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="5" WIDTH="100%">

<TR>
<TD>
WHATEVER i HAVE IN THIS PORTION
</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
</TD>
</TR>

<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP">
<TABLE CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="5" WIDTH="100%">

<TR>
<TD CLASS="HEADER" WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP">
FIELD ONE NAME
</TD>

<TD CLASS="HEADER" WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP">
FIELD TWO NAME
</TD>

<TD CLASS="HEADER" WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP">
FIELD THREE NAME
</TD>
</TR>
<%
Do While Not rs.EOF
%>
</TR>
<TD CLASS="BODY" WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP">
<% = rs.Fields("name_of_field_1") %>
</TD>
<TD CLASS="BODY" WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP">
<% = rs.Fields("name_of_field_2") %>
</TD>
<TD CLASS="BODY" WIDTH="33%" VALIGN="TOP">
<% = rs.Fields("name_of_field_3") %>
</TD>
</TR>
<%
rs.MoveNext
Loop
%>
</TABLE>
<THE REST OF THE CLOSING TAGS FOR THE TABLE>
<THE REST OF THE HTML I WISH TO APPEAR ON PAGE>
<%
rs.Close
Set rs = Nothing
cn.Close
Set cn = Nothing
%>
</BODY>
</HTML>

I clearly took shortcuts with re: to the html code, but I hope you get the idea. I want to make sure I'm putting the server scripting in the correct places. and obviously this would be saved as an asp page, not and s/html page.

khaki

05-16-2003, 02:19 PM

Originally posted by firegryphon3207
...essentially, since the page where the form exists (as it is planned to be a seperate page) doesn't require any server scripting (beyond posting the form results)? This is what I had originally thought, but I want to be sure.

Yes! :)

and I could insert

<% = rs.Fields("name_of_field_3") %>

where I want the information to appear?

Yes! :)

I clearly took shortcuts with re: to the html code, but I hope you get the idea. I want to make sure I'm putting the server scripting in the correct places. and obviously this would be saved as an asp page, not and s/html page.

Yes! :)

There is more than just "hope" for you....
you've got it understood exactly! :)

did you try it yet? (and if not... what the heck are you waiting for ? ;) )

good luck...
;) k

firegryphon3207

05-16-2003, 02:38 PM

There is more than just "hope" for you....

hooray! for learning via reverse engineering! :)

did you try it yet?

no :(

(and if not... what the heck are you waiting for ? )

a server to upload the database to. Just now got the word - we are moving to new hosting company :)

Thanks for all the help, if I run into problems when I get this thing going, I'll be back! LOL

khaki

05-16-2003, 05:54 PM

well....
just so ya' know...

you can create a FREE account on www.brinkster.com and take advantage of the ASP support that they provide (it's good... i use it myself :) ).

this way you can test all of your ASP pages without having to be hooked-up to a specific server/FTP connection.
it's quite mobile.... you can access it from anywhere that you can get an internet connection.

... just so ya 'know :)

;) k

firegryphon3207

05-16-2003, 07:50 PM

oooooooooo :D . And what a good thing to know that is!! I most definately will be trying that out!! Will probably have done a first run by tommroow as I'm pretty anxious to give this a try.

Altho, I did think of a question..I know the database isn't complete, so there may be times when a person isn't going to get a return on the search.....How could I addresss that? Wouldn't that requre me to use an If...Else statement after the SQL query??
Or would I have to use something else? SQL isn't my forte either.