Frontpage help

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canooten

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Not sure if what I want to do can be done, but here it is....

I've got an Excel database that I use to keep up with what songs are on specific CD's. Basically it's laid out with song title in column A, song ID# in column B and CD name in column C. There's some other info, but those are the important ones.

I would like to be able to create a webpage that one could enter a song title or ID# into a text box and run a search of the database and have the CD title display as a result.

Can this be done?
 
Sure, but you have a couple things to consider:

1. FrontPage sucks. It just does. IMHO, worst web-related product MS makes.

2. Binding an Excel spreadsheet to a webpage is next to impossible.

3. Binding an ACCESS DATABASE to a webpage is relatively easy, but you have to know a bit about how webpages and databases interact to get it to work well.

4. If you seriously want to use FrontPage, you'll need a web host that supports MS Frontpage Extensions.

5. If you want to do testing of your pages before release, you'll need to setup IIS on your machine (or PWS, depending on your OS).

6. FrontPage sucks. FrontPage with databases sucks. And if you don't know what you're doing, your webpage is going to be a bytch...and it's gonna suck.
 
Gee, ShoobieRat, don't scare the guy off! Personally, I love MS FrontPage. It has everything I need and more and it gives me no problems whatsoever. BUt I have never tried to insert or embed a spreadsheet or database into a webpage. I do know that inserting a database would be easy because it could be represented by a simple table. As for spreadsheets, I don't have a clue. Those are a bit more complicated than databases. You should try the MS Office website, see if you can find your answers there.

http://office.microsoft.com

-Dan The Man
 
Well don't make the guy feel bad for using FrontPage! HAHA. I have Dreamweaver. I'm not saying it's bad or anything but I don't know how to use it :(

-Dan The Man
 
You can't scare me off that easily.

I know FP isn't the best product to use, but it's what I got started using, so I'm used to it. Anyway, I don't use it for anything major, just odd and end projects.

I already have webspace with FP extensions enabled, so that's no problem. I've also figured out how to import the Excel data to an Access table. I've also inserted both the Excel and Access files into a page on my server, but I can't figure out how to get the info to display correctly. About all I can do is get the Excel spreadsheet to display on the page as it is in original format (about 10 lines at a time....out of 3000 and growing). So that doesn't help me much.
 
I make all my pages in Dreamweaver
That's cause Dreamweaver is da b0mb! :D
I have Dreamweaver. I'm not saying it's bad or anything but I don't know how to use it :(
Dreamweaver is a professional website-development tool, which is why it's not recommended for the average user who isn't a moderate to hard-core web designer. The basic features are easy to use, and you can create effective websites with basic knowledge. But the rest of the tools you really got to know what you're doing. Once you learn it, it's an extremely powerful peice of software.

I already have webspace with FP extensions enabled, so that's no problem.
If you have the FP extensions on your web host, then working with an Access database will be fairly simple. In fact, FP has a tutorial about how to us Dynamic Content. Check it out.

I've also inserted both the Excel and Access files into a page on my server, but I can't figure out how to get the info to display correctly.
Excel spreadsheets are best displayed in websites as just plain tables. See, if you used Dreamweaver, you'd find a tool for automatically creating and populating tables from Excel spreadsheets. Since you don't, you'll have to create those tables on your own (if FP doesn't have a help doco on doing such a thing already). Of course, once the files get huge, you'll run into problems, as you've noticed.

If you've got 3000+ entries in your spreadsheet, you really should stop thinking about the spreadsheet and start thinking about only Access (in this case). You'll need to setup a database link between your site and your page (which FP should have a doco on how to do this) and then you can create a page that populates from the database. I forget what all the little FP extensions can do, but if you were running a real setup, you'd most likely use ASP script to populate an automatically generated table for your site.

Bottom line, you'll just have to read the doco and the FP website to figure this out. They have a forum, btw, that's pretty good.
 
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