Publishing information from a database to the web requires either static generation of information from a database to HTML or dynamic interfacing of your database with a web protocol. Of the two ways to publish your data on the web, static is the much easier method but it does not allow for updated information to be viewed without replacing the entire web page. Dynamic database web publishing is more useful, but often requires direct server access and a type of translating, or database publishing, application.
If information from a database can be output, it can usually be published on the web. HTML is a text markup language, so any electronically output text can be published. For the example below, data from a library database was output as tab-separated text and input to Microsoft Excel. From there, Excel wrote the HTML and created the document linked below:
This catalog is not interactive, however, and each time the catalog is updated the entire web page must be created again. For final reports or sharing data that changes infrequently, static publishing allows easy sharing of information contained in a database. For most data intensive needs, however, dynamic publishing is often the best solution.
Links to several databases are provided below. Each database, while accessible on the web, is generated and published differently. These are only three methods for publishing dynamic data on the web—many more exist and one not listed here may be better for your needs. If you have an existing database, research the possibilities for publishing that data on-line and then choose your best method.
The first example is a simple FileMaker Pro< database. These databases are relatively easy to create and FileMaker 4.0 and higher comes with a built-in web server. The included server is not very fast, however, and databases must be open files on the server. For small projects or sites which will not need to sustain heavy loads, this is a very workable solution.
MSU Writing Center library catalog
For websites which will sustain heavier loads or for databases which will contain thousands and thousands of records, a more robust server/database engine combination is required. The two links below both lead to powerful dynamic databases on the web.
H-Net Jobguide is an Access/ColdFusion combination. Access provides the database, and ColdFusion "talks" to the webserver allowing web clients to access the database through their browser.
H-Net's Academic Announcements is also a dynamic, database driven site. This site combines PERL, a programming language, with an SQL database engine.