How to Publish a Database on the Internet

Databases are widely used to store various types of information for rapid access and easy management. When you need to publish a database content on Internet you have various options, depending on the database type and your needs.

For example, if you want to display the content of a database in a website you can choose between static HTML pages and dynamic pages, such as ASP or PHP. There are many programs that will convert your database content to static or dynamic webpages, generating at the same time an interface that will allow your visitors to add, edit, delete or search records. If you select a site generator which will output static html pages, the disadvantage is the future maintenance of website content as the database will suffer modifications.

Every time you modify the database, you will have to repeat the process of generation and upload to server for the entire website. On the other hand, the dynamic pages will give you more mobility in the management of the site and even the remote management of the database using a web based interface. Basically, any specialized program will ask you for the server address, user name and password, practically all the details concerning the location of the database in order to access it. Then it will connect to the server and identify the table's structure.

After that, you will be asked about the name of particular fields you want to publish and you will be also able to customize the forms that will appear on the respective web pages. The advantages of these generators are: reduced time to deploy a ready made database driven website, many customization options, clean and optimized web pages code.

Another solution for Internet database publishing could be the database conversion, exporting the content and importing it into a database which has a customizable interface, such as the case of content management systems relying on a database backend. But in these situations compatibility problems could come up, which could increase the time needed to deploy a certain database driven application.