Thanks Alex,

For the gr8 help. I'll check Web connection and other software mentioned by you.

Regards
Shaishav

>Shaishav:
>
>I missed your message the first time around, so I'll take a stab at it.
>
>There are many ways to put data on the web. In my case I do that with Web Connection and VFP. The web server has a local table of users to validate. You can use a DBF or SQL Server or similar for that. An Admin page allows an administrator to maintain the list of users. You could also use NT authentication and enter the users into NT from the server.
>
>You could write an app that can easily be accessed both from a thin client (web browser from a PC or a PDA) and a fat-client, such as a VFP program.
>
>You could use Web Connection or FoxWeb or similar. Or you could use plain ASP or ASP .Net and access the data through OleDB or ODBC.
>
>>>Some considerations I went through are;
>>>
>>>A. Whether I should allow on-line data updates direct to the central server (here, speed will be a factor);
>
>The updates could be done by one of your VFP programs. Generally just a series of INSERT INTO statements. Or if using SQL Server and major batch updates you could use facilities like BCP, etc.
>
>You could also use FTP to send a file (DBF, TXT, XML, etc.) and have a trigger in a method in Web Connect that gets the file, validates it against some rules and proceeds to do the import (using INSERT INTO or even APPEND FROM) would work.
>
>If the connection is fast (ADSL, Cable Modem or LAN) it should work OK. Beware of LAN connections to a web server. For security reasons a web server should be in a DMZ, behind firewalls, etc. A rule could be written for the firewall to allow one-way FTP access from the LAN a t certain time windows, to avoid a hacker getting to the LAN from the Web. There are many ways to do this and it is a different subject that merits its own thread; (books have been written about this).
>
>>>B. Allow users to create the data on their local servers, and later upload it in a batch to the centeral server. May be once a day or more..
>
>This is what I talk about in the previous section. You could have disconnected sets for the users to do a fast periodical upload using FTP (or even HTTP if there is not a lot of data). There are examples of how to do this in Web Connection's demo and samples.
>
>
>>>I have never developed any internet enabled applications, and I'm wondering where can I get more information.
>
>http://www.west-wind.com/webconnection
>http://www.AFPages.com
>http://fox.wikis.com/wc.dll?Wiki~CategoryWebTools
>
>"Internet Applications with VisualFoxPro" by Rick Strahl
>http://www.hentzenwerke.com/catalogavailability/intvfp.htm
>
>"WebRAD: Building Database Websites with Visual FoxPro and Web Connection" by Harold Chattaway, Randy Pearson, Whil Hentzen
>http://www.hentzenwerke.com/catalogavailability/webrad.htm
>
>HTH