Interfacing from Apache to Access

[Lorenzo Gordon <Lo...@lshtm.ac.uk>]

Hello,

I am a software developer for The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK.  
My query is the following: I have been able to successfully run a Perl script from MS-DOS that would pull out the necessary info. from an Access database I wrote last year (Access 97).

The problem is that in order to get the script to talk to the web pages i am currently designing, the script must run on the School's network, which is a Unix Solaris machine running Apache.
Both the School's Web Administrator have been struggling (and so far failing) to find an ODBC-like driver that will enable Unix to talk to Access via my Perl script.

The implications of not been able to create some connection between these various componenets are massive.

Any solutions/pointers/advice anyone might have would be greatly appreciated.  I can't believe I'm the first person to have come across this problem!


Please respond either to lorenzo.gordon@lshtm.ac.uk .

TIA,

Lorenzo Gordon.

Re: Interfacing from Apache to Access

[Eric Strovink <st...@acm.org>]

Lorenzo Gordon wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I am a software developer for The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK.
> My query is the following: I have been able to successfully run a Perl script from MS-DOS that would pull out the necessary info. from an Access database I wrote last year (Access 97).
>
> The problem is that in order to get the script to talk to the web pages i am currently designing, the script must run on the School's network, which is a Unix Solaris machine running Apache.
> Both the School's Web Administrator have been struggling (and so far failing) to find an ODBC-like driver that will enable Unix to talk to Access via my Perl script.
>
> The implications of not been able to create some connection between these various componenets are massive.
>
> Any solutions/pointers/advice anyone might have would be greatly appreciated.  I can't believe I'm the first person to have come across this problem!
>
> Please respond either to lorenzo.gordon@lshtm.ac.uk .
>
> TIA,
>
> Lorenzo Gordon.

You should probably think about converting your Access database to SQL Server.  Access is not a good choice for a production server, nor will it ever be, since Micros~1 wants to keep selling SQL
Server.  Look at some of the old threads about interfacing to SQL Server for more information.

Having said this, I'll assume that there are powerful forces beyond your control that make it impossible to shitcan Access.  So, here's something that will work, as long as your traffic load is
light.

Write a simple socket interface to connect Apache Perl to your existing Windoze Perl script (which you'll hack to set up as a simple server).  Invent your own protocol.  Locking issues will come
up, but you can manage this yourself with a little creativity.  There are pretty good examples of how to do simple socket things with Perl, in the Perl books.

HTH.