New to PHP and need help with web page accessing a server

[AlphaSkidz]

Hello, I'm new to this forum and PHP and need some help.  At work, we have users with Windows and Macs, so an Access database will not work because of the Macs.  I need a program that allows a user to select from 5 inputs and their results be displayed to them.  From what I have read it's PHP.  Here are our specs: 

 

OS:  MS Windows 2008

DB: SQL Server 2012

IIS:  IIS 6.0, but will probably update to IIS 7

 

Will PHP be what I need to and then add in simple HTML to create a web page?  Is there an "Out of the box" program I could install to help with this?  This needs to be accessible anywhere, and on any OS.  Please let me know what additional info you need.  Thanks in advance. 

[dalecosp]

Are we trusting users to not blow things up?  

I mean, if you just want to give DB access to users, something web-based like PHPMyAdmin has tons of features, but it's dangerous 'cause they can do anything (delete, drop tables/DB's, etc.)

PHP is a server-side scripting language that goes well with SQL systems to create DB-driven web pages, so, yes, PHP could be what you need to create a "web page".  

But you haven't given us much to go on to decide what your needs are. 

Hope this helps,

[AlphaSkidz]

We are definitely not trusting users to not blow things up.  What information can I give you to help with this topic?  Essentially we have a server that holds our data.  I imagine a page that has Site, Brand, Gender, Style, Start Date, and End Date.  The user will select data this is in a drop down list and hit a run button, and it will bring back the appropriate data that matches the criteria they specified.  I built this same functionally with Forms and Queries within Microsoft Access.  However, this will not work with Macs, so it is useless.  I am trying to find something that will mimic that same functionally in Access, but available to every OS.  My thoughts were something browser based would be my best option.  I was wondering if I would have to learn PHP and do it that way, or if there was a program already out there that could do the same.  I hope this helps, let me know if you need additional info. 

[Ch0cu3r]

You can use odbc to connect to your MS Access *.mdb database files. One turorial I found

http://www.sitepoint.com/using-an-access-database-with-php/

 

If the company you work for has $$$ then you can get Parallels. However this requires a valid license for Windows and MS Access too.

[AlphaSkidz]

We are really not wanting to go the route of parallels, so I believe the link you posted would not work on a Mac...Correct?

[Ch0cu3r]

 

so I believe the link you posted would not work on a Mac...Correct?

Yes. On your Windows Server you'll want to setup IIS with PHP. Then on your Mac you'd open the browser and go to the IP Address for your Windows Server so you can run the PHP scripts for accessing the Access Database.

Edited November 18, 2013 by Ch0cu3r

[dalecosp]

We are definitely not trusting users to not blow things up.  What information can I give you to help with this topic?  Essentially we have a server that holds our data.  I imagine a page that has Site, Brand, Gender, Style, Start Date, and End Date.  The user will select data this is in a drop down list and hit a run button, and it will bring back the appropriate data that matches the criteria they specified.  I built this same functionally with Forms and Queries within Microsoft Access.  However, this will not work with Macs, so it is useless.  I am trying to find something that will mimic that same functionally in Access, but available to every OS.  My thoughts were something browser based would be my best option.  I was wondering if I would have to learn PHP and do it that way, or if there was a program already out there that could do the same.  I hope this helps, let me know if you need additional info. 

Thanks.  If you have HTML/Design knowledge, you can create a form page with "site, brand", etc.  The trick there would be getting the right data to display on the page, tied to the DB.  And then you'd need to write a handler which would search and display the correct results.

 

I would advise that if this application is to be "public-facing", you may wish to consider hiring the work done, but if security from external bad guys is not of great concern (intraweb only), it would be a good learning experience for you.

 

PHP is, indeed, well-suited for this task; a number of other server-side languages might also be acceptable (python, perl, ruby, ASP).  PHP is generally seen as having the lowest barriers to entry.  In my experience, Python isn't terribly difficult, either, but I did learn it after I'd already learned PHP.

 

Depending on your learning style, a book, Youtube videos, web tutorials, or even the documentation at php.net will be valuable resources for you in learning what to do.

 

Of course, your first task would be getting PHP up and running in your IIS.  I wanted to say that PHP and IIS may require some hurdles to get working, but I don't *know* that for a fact (I've never installed IIS as a separate package and my professional admin experience is almost exclusively on 'Nix systems). It appears to me that I saw way more installation questions from Windows users than from *Nix users, but then, there *are* way more Windows users than *Nix users

Edited November 18, 2013 by dalecosp

[AlphaSkidz]

I have found some tutorials about PHP that I will start watching.  In the meantime, are there any out of the box programs that could do all the heavy lifting for us and require little to no programming knowledge?