SQLData Server Installation Guide 

System Requirements

The web database service currently only support Windows environment. It requires a WIN32 operating system such as Windows 95, Windows NT work station or Windows NT server. You must have ODBC installed in your system. Most likely you have it installed already because many applications shipped with ODBC (MS Office, VC++, and so on). You can obtain ODBC and ODBC database drivers from many different venders.

Install the Service

Run the SQLData20.exe file, the setup program will guide you through the installation smoothly.  It collects the following information before installing the services:

• UserName and Company
• Installation Directory
• Program Folder Name
• Host Name and Port
• Initial User Name and Password

The whole package is less than 4MG including the sample databases.

The setup program creates a program folder and installs the program as Windows NT service.  You can run the server from the command line if you install the system on Windows 95. The setup program also creates several test ODBC data sources.

Test the server

The setup program installs several test ODBC data sources which you can use to test the installation and to get familiar with the service. The created ODBC system DSNs are:

• TestDbase : Dbase files that contains sample customer, orders and products information.
• TestAccess: Access tables that contains sample customer, orders and products information.
• TestText:     Text files that contain sample customer, orders and products information.

You can use these data source name to perform database operations immediately after the installation. To test your installation

• Run the SQLData database server in debug mode, in the BIN directory where you installed the service, type:   
                  sqldata.exe -debug 4
• Start a web browser from another machine that is connected to the network, and type in the following URL:

                http://localhost:8732

• You should see the sample welcome page displayed in the browser.  Under Using HTML forms section on the page, select Standard SQL Query.
• Type TestDbase as the data source name and then type the following SQL statement:

                select * from customer

• You should see the result page from the server.

Prepare Databases

The database you want to publish must be setup as the System Data Source, the procedure is as follows:

• Select the Control Panel from Settings.
• Double click the ODBC icon in the control panel.
• Select the System DSN tab.
• Click the Add button to Add a new DSN.
• Select the installed ODBC driver in the list. You need to buy a ODBC driver if the drive for your database is not in the list.
• Go through the setup page for the driver, you likely needs to specify the location of your databases here.
• Repeat the above steps for all your databases.

Create  HTML Templates

The Database server uses templates extensively. There are many sample templates in the .\htdocs\templates directory that demonstrate how to perform database operations such as query, update, insert and delete. There are also many samples that show you how to use the embedded script language which gives you the flexibility to manipulate the database in whatever ways you prefer.

Start the Service

After the server is configured properly, you can start the web database service from the system control panel :

• Run the control panel.
• Double click the Service icon.
• Select SQLData Database Service, and click the start button.

You can also set the Startup of the service to automatic so that the SQLData database service will be started when the machine is turned on.

Send mail to  info2-at-sqldata-dot-com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright 2008-2010 SQLData Systems, Inc.
Last modified: July 10, 2010