Database driven websites: what are they and how are they built?

Knowvision Web Applications are built on Microsoft Access or SQL databases and utilize Active Server Pages technology to access the databases. You can build similar applications with many different databases or scripting languages. One very common method is to utilize the FREE mySQL database in conjunction with the PHP programming language. Check out our related links below to find some articles on using mySQL with PHP.

Large sites can be managed (updated, revised) more easily with a content management system, which is essentially a database-driven web site that uses dynamic web pages that pull directly from a database. These systems have the benefit of being easier to change the overall look of the site via Cascading Style Sheets and easier to update your content via forms that allow you to easily update your database.

Database driven web sites are all the rage nowadays. They basically consist of a back-end database with web pages that contain script programming language capable of pulling specific information from the database depending on what the user wants to know.

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Database driven websites: what are they and how are they built? :

WHAT ARE DYNAMIC WEB PAGES?

To understand dynamic web pages, you have to understand normal or in other words 'static' web pages.

Typical non-dynamic web pages do not change every time the page is loaded by the browser, nor do they change if a user clicks on a button. The only change that you will see in static web pages is to see them load and unload, like what happens when you click on a hyperlink.

In a nutshell: static web pages (normal pages you build) always look the same and the content never changes unless you load a new page or you change the page yourself and upload the new version of the page to the web server.

Dynamic pages do the opposite, they can change every time they are loaded (without you having to make those changes) and they can change their content based on what user do, like clicking on some text or an image. (I am not talking about loading a new page!)

DATABASE DRIVEN WEB PAGES:

One of the most common types of dynamic web pages is the database driven type. This means that you have a web page that grabs information from a database (the web page is connected to the database by programming,) and inserts that information into the web page each time it is loaded.

If the information stored in the database changes, the web page connected to the database will also change accordingly (and automatically,) without human intervention.

This is commonly seen on online banking sites where you can log in (by entering your user name and password) and check out your bank account balance. Your bank account information is stored in a database and has been connected to the web page with programming thus enabling you to see your banking information.

Imagine if the web page holding your banking information had to be built traditionally (that is by hand,) every time your bank balance changed! Even a thousand monkeys working 24/7 drinking 5 cups of coffee a day, would not be able to keep up!

Database driven sites can be built using several competing technologies, each with it’s own advantages. Some of those technologies/tools include:

	PHP
	JSP
	ASP, ASP.NET
	PERL
	Cold Fusion

PHP: PHP (recursive acronym for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor") PHP is a very popular web scripting language and engine. It allows you to create dynamic web pages easily and quickly. It is easy to learn and so once you get the basics down you will progress quickly and start writing some useful scripts. In non-geek terms: it's an engine that runs in conjunction with a web server that allows you to create web pages that change – examples of such include guest books, discussion boards … and so on.

ASP: Active Server Pages -> Microsoft’s Scripting Engine.
Active server pages is Mircrosoft’s PHP-like scripting engine for dynamic pages. It is different from PHP in many ways (ASP uses VBscript or Jscript as it’s programming language and it is free only on windows) but it is also very similar in that they have the same purpose of providing a means to creating dynamic web pages. If you want to learn more, please let me know and I’ll start writing!

JSP: Java Server Pages -> Java’s version of ASP and PHP.

DBMS: Database Management System: A program that provides all kinds of functionality to allow you to easily save, update, delete, and search for information. Examples of DBMS products are MySQL and Oracle, among many others. People typically refer to DBMS products as simply ‘databases’.

SQL: Structured Query Language -> the language of relational databases, databases like MySQL and Oracle. Relational databases are a type of database that has been around for about 20 years. A relational database is the most popular type of database out there today and is commonly used with dynamic web sites.

Just in case you’re confused, there are several different types of databases as there are several types of automobiles. If you ever get into database work, you'll find that there is a 99% chance you will be working with a relational database so you need not worry about the other types. But for those wannabe nerds who really want to know, here are some other types of databases out there:

Object Databases: everything is saved as a programmic object. Has everything to do with Object Oriented Programming, Object Oriented Programming is a way/style of programming that organizes the code as

Flat File Database: Typically a custom way of storing the information in a simple text file (as in: example.txt). It was common just a few years ago for programmers to create their own database by saving the data to a series of simple text files referred to as flat files.
This is a very primitive form of database and is not normally something you need to do today with so many commercial and free database products out there that have a lot of functionality built in.

CGI: Common Gateway Interface -> the first method developed to create dynamic web pages. Usually written in the PERL programming language, CGI has been replaced by easier-to-use and more advanced technology like PHP, ASP, and JSP. Yet CGI is still used today by many people.

Because CGI has been around a long time, there are a lot of free scripts out there that you should be able to easily run on your webserver as just about all webservers support/allow for CGI scripts - to a certain degree.

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