ITIS 1210 Introduction to Web-Based Information Systems Chapter 24 How Websites Work with Databases How Websites Work with Databases
Databases Enables Web sites to search for information Not part of the “visible” Web! Web site becomes “front end” for a database application Usually involves entering search terms and viewing results
Databases Example: Yahoo’s Web page includes Search dialog box Enter keyword Search button Enable search What is returned is an HTML-formatted page with data from Yahoo’s database relevant to the keyword
Databases Interaction can be two-way Users asked to “register” Provide identifying information Site stores this in their database For future reference For data collection
Databases Database can be simple or complex Excel spreadsheet Access database Oracle SQL database CGI – Common Gateway Interface Bridges Web site (using HTML) and Database (using Excel, Access, SQL, etc.) PERL &.NET also provide bridges
How the Web Works with Databases
Server Folder where CGI executables are stored “bin” is short for “binary” meaning a program that can be executed Name of CGI script to be run Parameters to control what script does Space (+) Delimiter between different terms of string How the Web Works with Databases
User enters search term in form on browser Initiates search Presses WEB SEARCH Presses ENTER Client formats a query string and sends it to Web server The “search?” part calls a CGI script
How the Web Works with Databases The rest are parameters that control what happens Might see /cgi-bin to indicate directory where executable can be found Delimiters & separates search terms and other parameters + takes place of space Query string arrives at the Web server
How the Web Works with Databases CGI processes is Sends query to database Database processes query and returns results to CGI CGI returns results to the Web server Web server creates a new HTML page and sends it back to the client Client displays results