A stupid question about databases and ASP.NET
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Here is my situation: I have a Windows hosting with ASP.NET 2.0 that also features Access database support, and also SQL server but that costs a lot and I cannot afford to pay the price yet. What I want basically to do is to write a web service that stores and retrieves date on the web site, so that people can access it wherever they are. I'm not talking about thousands of transactions per minute. Well actually there might never be more than one user at any give time (but that's not guaranteed). Is there some way I can use any free SQL server application? Like sqlite or Microsoft SQLCE? Of course I have absolutely no way I can install additional applications because this is just an average hosting plan at an average hosting company. Well, if you have any other ideas, I'd be very happy to read about them. Thank you very much!
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Here is my situation: I have a Windows hosting with ASP.NET 2.0 that also features Access database support, and also SQL server but that costs a lot and I cannot afford to pay the price yet. What I want basically to do is to write a web service that stores and retrieves date on the web site, so that people can access it wherever they are. I'm not talking about thousands of transactions per minute. Well actually there might never be more than one user at any give time (but that's not guaranteed). Is there some way I can use any free SQL server application? Like sqlite or Microsoft SQLCE? Of course I have absolutely no way I can install additional applications because this is just an average hosting plan at an average hosting company. Well, if you have any other ideas, I'd be very happy to read about them. Thank you very much!
I'd change hosting company, I have one of my sites hosted on a basic plan with SQL server support for €5 per month.
Declan Bright www.declanbright.com
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Here is my situation: I have a Windows hosting with ASP.NET 2.0 that also features Access database support, and also SQL server but that costs a lot and I cannot afford to pay the price yet. What I want basically to do is to write a web service that stores and retrieves date on the web site, so that people can access it wherever they are. I'm not talking about thousands of transactions per minute. Well actually there might never be more than one user at any give time (but that's not guaranteed). Is there some way I can use any free SQL server application? Like sqlite or Microsoft SQLCE? Of course I have absolutely no way I can install additional applications because this is just an average hosting plan at an average hosting company. Well, if you have any other ideas, I'd be very happy to read about them. Thank you very much!
Is there some reason that you wouldn't use the Access support offered by your provider until your site traffic outgrew it? If you are using a web service as a facade for data access, you should be able to, in theory, change configuration to point to a SQL Server (or other) data source in the future with little to no interruption in service. Otherwise, you seem to have hit the nail on the head in your post. Because you have limited access to the box, your options are likewise limited. Most database products, SQLCE included, require some sort of installation in order to function. I have no experience with sqlite, but from a quick read of their site, it appears that it also requires some sort of installation. One option that you may consider is constructing an ADO.NET dataset with your tables, which you can then deserialize, use, and cache, from your webservice. Though, if this were a viable approach for you, my opinion would be that you were still better off using Access. Hope that helps a bit. :)
--Jesse
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