MS FrontPage —

How Your Database Interface Pages Work

Now that your work is done behind the scenes, you can take your new application out for a test drive. FrontPage creates a group of Web pages that give your visitors access to your database records. You'll read about these pages below and then learn how your new feature actually works in a browser.

Web Pages FrontPage Creates

FrontPage creates three Web pages that let visitors communicate with the database:

  • The Results page (see Figure 17-3) lists all data in the table you selected while completing the wizard.

  • The Submission Form (that you designed in step 4 above) lets visitors add records to the database.

  • The Database Editor lets visitors add, edit, or delete a record.

If you used the Database Interface Wizard to create a new Web site, FrontPage also creates an Index1.htm (or default.htm) home page with links to the other three pages.

Your Pages in Action

To see how your new feature works, open the results_page.asp page in your browser (see Figure 17-3).

Figure 17-3. It's not the most beautiful page ever created, but it'll get the job done. (You can tweak design elements, but don't edit page content extensively or your pages may stop working.) Hyperlinks on the upper right lead you to your interface application's other pages, where visitors can add or edit records.

Editing a record

Once you've opened your new database interface in a browser, you can play around with your data.

To edit a record:

  1. Open the Database Editor.

    Within the Results page, click the Database Editor link on the upper right. Enter the user name and password you set up in step 6 above and click Login. Your browser displays a list of records.

  2. Open the record.

    Open an item by clicking the hyperlink within the record. (In Figure 17-4, in the far left column, the Product ID value serves as the hyperlink.)

    Figure 17-4. When you open a record on an ASP page like this one, the record displays in the window's bottom frame. (ASP.NET consolidates all this information on one pageno frames are necessary.) When you're selecting a record for deletion (which you'll learn to do in a minute), turn on the checkbox to its left.

  3. Click Edit.

    When you click Edit (in the bottom frame, below record details), the display in the bottom frame turns into a Web form containing editable fields.

  4. Make edits.

    Make changes to any information you want, and then click OK. A confirmation appears to let you know that your new database interface application has updated the record.

Adding a record

Adding a new record is as simple as filling out a Web form. From within the Results page, click Submission Form. You'll be prompted to enter the user name and password you set up for the data interface feature. Enter them and click Login.

You can also access the submission form from the Database Editor page. Just click Add New Record on the upper left.

The submission form opens in your browser. Complete the fields and click OK. A confirmation page displays showing you the information you entered. If you return to the Results page, you can see the record you added at the end of the list.

Deleting a record

You can delete records from within the Results page only. To do so, select the record by turning on the checkbox to its left. (You can select as many as you want.) Then click Delete Selected Records. Record details appear in the bottom frame, and the editor prompts you to confirm that you really want to delete that page. If you do, click OK.