Datacasting: How to Stream Databases Over the Internet

by Jessica Keyes

The hot new topic of the year is the marriage of Web technology and databases. This overview book shows how to port database information onto the Web via step-by-step examples and easy-to-understand... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 007034678X
• ISBN13: 9780070346789
• Release Date: February 1998
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 2.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 7.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

BYTE REVIEW OF DATACASTING

Book Review - The Black Art of Data Broadcasting From Byte Magazine, June 1998 By Stanford DiehlThe excitement of static Web pages as worn off. Now it's time to face more difficult challenges, such as seamlessly extracting live data from corporate databases and automating the delivery of Web content.Datacasting: how to stream databases over the Internet discusses Web-based access to a wide range of database technologies, from displaying flat files to tapping desktop databases, from exporting data with Java applications importing legacy COBOL to the Web. The book is chock full of juicy technical information.Datacasting canvases tools and strategies recently adopted by the major database vendors to support Internet connectivity. For example, IBM Connectors is a set of gateways for deploying enterprise applications and data over the Internet. IMS Web Studio lets browsers download a set of Message Format Services (MFS) source files, generates C++ and HTML files! for transactions, and compiles the C++ code as an executable CGI-BIN program. Sample code shows how to convert a legacy payroll system to a Web-based application. Other connectivity solutions cover Sybase's web.sql, Informix-Universal Web Connect, Oracle's Designer/2000, and Progress Software's WebSpeed for securing Internet transactions.Refreshing, shareware solutions are not left out. MiniSQL, developed by David J. Hughes, supports a subset of SQL, a database engine, and a C programming API. A second shareware component, basically a CGI scripting mechanism, provides the interface between miniSQL and Web. WDB, a shareware application written to archive and access observations made with the Hubble space telescope, installs as a CGI script and generates a standard HTML form for accepting database queries.Three chapters are devoted to database access with Java. Java's portability, security, and Object-oriented architecture make it ideal for Web-based development, b! ut the same features cause problems for database access. F! or instance, security restrictions prevent Java applets from connecting to a server other than the one that downloaded the applet. Databases generally reside on dedicated servers. A three-tier approach employs middleware such as JetExpress or OpenLink to accept the Java query on the Web server and pass it to the database server. Datacasting also grapples with client side implementation issues when deploying proprietary interfaces, ODBC, or JavaSoft's Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) drivers. Other chapters cover specific database optimizations for Web applications, natural-language interfaces, Directory Services, and in-depth case studies.

Great book for the dbms confused amongst us!

I'm not an expert in databases. Nor am I an expert on the Web. Unfortunately I wound up with an assignment that required me to bring a database up on the Web. My problem? I didn't know where to start. Then I came across Datacasting and started to read it. I found a veritable goldmine of information. Datacasting helped me understand the ramifications of porting a corporate database to the Web. I particuarly liked the case histories at the end of the book and the product overviews.Most books have one author's viewpoint on how something should be done. The problem is that there are many experts (and are these people really experts?) and therefore many viewpoints. I didn't want to have to buy 10+ books on the subject. Datacasting gave me many viewpoints and technical ideas all in one place.As a result I was able to prototype several solutions and my team picked the one that was the most economical and technically proficient. Good work Jessica! END