1. ITIS 1210 Introduction to Web-Based Information Systems Chapter 24 How Websites Work with Databases How Websites Work with Databases

2. 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

3. Databases  Example: www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com  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

4. 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

5. 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

6. How the Web Works with Databases http://search.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/search?p=public+relations&ln=En

7.  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

8.  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

9. 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

10. 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