** Reply to note from Sarah Agarwal <[log in to unmask]> Thu, 12 Apr 2001 11:41:56 +0000
> The Environment Agency produces a lot of data and the producers of this data
> are requesting that it's uploaded onto web pages. My feeling is that pages of
> numbers are not usable and that the data should be held in a database and
> pulled out when the database is queried. Does anyone have any advice,
> opinions, experience, etc, that could help me get my head around this
> particular issue?
Hi,
So is the question you are asking should I be creating static HTML files or
should I be using a live database and run the queries against it? A lot
depends on what you have, what is the desirable outcome, and what are the
available resources.
Either way the output will be the same (but probably different in quantity
per page), that is pages with numbers. They would only be useful to
someone who wants the information.
If I understand your question right though, HTML pages would be OK if they
do not change, ie. they are kind of archived/historical data. Even then,
if you have many pages (use how long is a piece of string to define how
many is "many") you might be better off using a database. All in all, if
you have access to a web enabled database it would be worth trying it
first.
This group will probably tell you to use a database which is what you want
to hear anyway. :-) So use a database. ;-)
Regards
Charles
PS. Why don't the producers of the data get off their rear ends and do the
damn job? Gee Wizz.
==============================================
Charles Christacopoulos, Secretary's Office, University of Dundee,
Dundee DD1 4HN, Scotland, United Kingdom.
Tel: +44+(0)1382-344891. Fax: +44+(0)1382-201604.
http://somis.ais.dundee.ac.uk/
Scottish Search Maestro http://somis2.ais.dundee.ac.uk/
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