By David Strom
(originally appeared in Aug 11, 1997 Infoworld)
The intersection of database and web servers just got a little more interesting with the arrival of Alpha Software's WebFiler product. Alpha has attempted to simplify the process of publishing a database via a web server, and while there are still a few kinks in the chain, overall it is an impressive effort. All you need on the client side is a browser that is capable of viewing tables.
Until now, trying to grant web browsers access to your data has been mostly a programming-intensive effort. There are many fine products out in the market such as Cold Fusion from Allaire, Sapphire from Bluestone, and Tango from Everywhere, but each of these products is for someone with lots of experience designing data structures, not to mention being comfortable around HTML. WebFiler fills another niche: that of the data and HTML neophyte. I had my own rolodex published on a Microsoft IIS server within minutes of opening the package. I didn't have to do any data conversions, read any documentation, or learn any obscure SQL syntax. It was amazingly simple: all I had to do was fill out a few web-based forms and copy my database file (which was a DBF that I maintain in Lotus' Approach) to my web server.
WebFiler has been tested with O'Reilly's WebSite and various Microsoft and Netscape web servers -- but really, any NT or Windows 95 web server should be able to work with it. It installs a special executable file in your web's cgi-bin directory. This controls the views you see in your browser.
To get started, you set up projects and groups of users. Each project has one or more data tables, and the tables can be designed using existing templates (such as for contact management, phone list, sales leads, and so forth), or from scratch. While some of the web forms are a bit cumbersome, the process is very intuitive. And it should be, given how many years Alpha has been in the easy-to-use database arena. Once you design your table, you can upload its data in one of several formats including DBF, comma-separated, or even a ZIP file (WebFiler can uncompress these automatically). WebFiler also supports ODBC connections to database servers, although I didn't test this.
One of the more interesting things about this product is how it is designed to operate remotely. Once you get your database setup, you can change a series of templates used by WebFiler to display queries and layout the data on your screen. To do this, you need to move the template from your server to your local PC, make changes using a standard HTML editor, and then upload the changed file back to your server. It sounds somewhat complicated, but the software really leads you by the nose through the process.
The file transfers can be accomplished in one of three ways: you can upload and download using standard ftp commands, provided that your web/database server also is an ftp server. Mine wasn't, and I had some problems getting files to and from the machine. I would recommend that you use WebFiler with the ftp option.
But you can also have the server email the files to you using a standard SMTP mail server on the Internet, and then upload the changed file back to your server inside your browser (something supported since version 2.0 of Navigator and version 3.02 of IE).
But perhaps the most unique aspect of WebFiler is that Alpha has begun a web hosting service with the product. In effect, you can rent space on one of the company's web servers and upload your database there. The monthly fee is quite reasonable -- there are two plans depending on how much disk storage you need. This isn't intended for hosting an entire web site, but is handy for those people that don't have access to their cgi directories on their regular hosting provider.
The latest 1.1 beta of the product adds some impressive features: you can save the queries and rerun them with a few simple mouse clicks. You can then schedule these queries to be run at a specified time or times (daily, hourly or monthly), and have your server email you the results, a primitive but effective means of pushing data.
If you do decide to buy the software, the initial purchase price includes two user accounts and one administrator account. An additional ten user account licenses are $99. Given that I was able to consume greter than 60 percent of my IBM's Pentium 180 CPU with a few simple concurrent queries, I would recommend against using WebFiler for supporting more than a large workgroup.
THE BOTTOM LINE
WebFiler
Version 1.1 beta
A low-end web/database server designed for users with little or no programming expertise who need to provide web browsers access to their data.
Pros: Easy to use tool to enable web browsing of databases, simple to setup and operate.
Cons: Making changes to templates is somewhat tedious; performance could be an issue for more than a workgroup sharing one server.
Alpha Software Corp./SoftQuad
Burlington, MA
617 229 2924
617 272 4876 fax
800 451 1018
www.webfiler.com
Price: $395 (include two user accounts, additional ten user packs at $99). Web hosting service is available at either $30/month or $95/month, both with an initial fee of $50.
Platform: Windows 95 (kernel patch required) or Windows NT (3.51 or better), most NT-based web servers
Copyright 1997 by Infoworld Publishing Co.