MS FrontPage

Working with Databases

So far, you've learned to create all kinds of Web pages using simple HTML. Maybe you've also tossed in a little CSS or JavaScript or used FrontPage's site management tools. These are all powerful features, but they're not the answer to every Web author's dreams. What if you need to show visitors loads of information like profiles for thousands of your company's employees or details on hundreds of fly-fishing products?

You could, of course, build each of these pages by hand. But then again you could also churn your own butter or send smoke signals when you want to get in touch with friends. There's an easier way. Whenever you need to fill your Web pages with lots of similar info employee records, product pictures, movie star marriage results you'll probably want to store your data in a database. This tutorial shows you how to set up FrontPage so that you can easily tap into these data storehouses and fill your pages with whatever info you want to retrieve. (The process works in the opposite direction too; FrontPage lets you channel form collection results from your Web pages into a database.) You'll also learn how to add a search feature to your site. As usual, you can do it all without a lick of programming knowledge.

Note: The features you'll read about in this tutorial won't let viewers change or manipulate data on your site; rather, they'll only be able to view the data you've posted. The next tutorial deals with interactive data access where visitors can edit, add, and delete entries.