XSet

This is purely to help out Joey with his databases … feel free to correct me in the comments

To start, SQL is not a database in itself but is rather a database protocol, a set of instructions for the manipulation of data in non-linear and transactional processes … in the same way that CGI is the protocol and Perl is the implementation.

The two most popular databases that use the SQL system are MS SQL server (stupidly expensive enterprise level databasing) and MySQL (which is an open source equivalent of MS-SQL server and offers most of the functionality)

There are two parts to both of these databases - the datastore (ie. the bit where all the information is kept, arranged in “tables”) and the server. The server is what handles requests for information. You can have multiple datastores within the same server, theoretically an infinite number.

So to connect to a database an retrieve information from it, you need the server location (normally an IP address or network name of the box running the SQL implementation) and the name of the datastore you want to interact with. You will also need the username to “login” to the database and in some cases you may need a password.

Back to the here and now, if you are using an Access database then you won’t be using SQL just yet. You’ll be using something similar to the OLEDB or the Jet interface to interact with the database. This is fine for low level, low traffic sites but the server overhead is quite high and the data will take longer to retrieve than if you were using a dedicated SQL server.

So, the next thing to do is install MySQL on your server and be amazed at how easy it is. You can play about with interaction and setting up databases etc. until you are comfortable with using the system. Then you can set-up Movable type. I believe it needs a blank (empty) database to start with and creates the necessary tables when you initialise the system.

I beleive that you can import the data as is by exporting from Access to a text file (CSV or similar) and then importing straight into MySQL

And finally, some helpful links:

This is a good article on a tool designed to import an Access database into MySql

http://www.stardeveloper.com/articles/display.html?article=2003101901&page=1

This is a great tutorial on interacting with MySQL from ASP 3:

http://www.dwam.net/mysql/asp_myodbc.asp

and if you have ay further issues, the guys at the DevShed forums are very helpful.

I hope this helps!

R

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