Hi, all,

This question has bothered me for several days, I wish get help from you.

I have a web-based application using ASP, a 3D model application using safeCad that is a DLL or EXE file, they both share a database.
There is no problem for web-app talking to DB; there is also no problem for 3D model talking to DB if we install 3D model and DB at our local computer.

My problem is that now we want to combine these three together to web that's what I worry about, is it possible?

Now we will put web-app, database and 3D model DLL file at server, our target is as:

1: in web-app, user can update or upload file to server and stroe the information in DB (No problem).
2: in web-app, user can also load the 3D model (How?)
3: From the 3D model, user can capture image, upload file; can see the change made from wep-app.

If we embed or launch 3D model to our web application, is it possible for user to work around 3D model and save the change back to DB in Server??????? How????????????????

I doubt it, because 3D model is not a web application, how can it save change back to DB in server.

if we embed or launch the 3D DLL file to web application, will it be downloaded to user computer in first use? I want the model be stored in server, launched from server, communicate with server, is it ok?

Thanks!

Andraw

It's *POSSIBLE* you can get this to work.

You'd have to be using a DB server (SQLServer, MySQL, etc.), not Access.

You'd have to allow remote connections to that DB server.

You'd have to be able to tell your 3D app that it needs to connect to the remote server.

Now your user will have to be able to download the (presumably already configured) ".exe" for the 3D app.

For safety, you'd want to SEVERELY limit what the 3D app user could do in the DB. You will need to understand what queries the 3D app makes and allow ONLY those queries via the userid and password that you assign to the 3D app.

If you have a high level of trust in the people who you are going to allow to download the 3D app, then you might be able to make it all work.

If there is a major mistake in here, it might be that you are using a web-based app, at all. Since you are going to require that user to download and use a ".exe" for the 3D app, I think you would have been better off going 100% the ".exe" route.

Anyway, I certainly wouldn't suggest any of this for a solution that you are going to open up to the general public. But *IF* you can fulfill all the above conditions, then maybe, just maybe, it will all work.

Old Pedant, thank you for your response.

The 3D model is created based on a lots of geometry data that stored in DB, and we won't allow user to modify any of these data, user can only upload some files or report some issues about it.

You said that user need to download the 3D model to local computer, right? if download to local, how about database? let 3D model remote retrieve data from DB in our server? When user upload file from 3D model, is it possible to update DB in remote server?

Forget to tell you that we use SQL Server Database

Also, DLL and EXE, which one is better? we need to pass argument to it when we load it.
Should we use <OBJECT></OBJECT> or <% obj = server.CreateObject().....%>? what's the difference of these two statement? I know that if I use <OBJECT></OBJECT>, it will be downloaded in first use, how about the second way(like: <%%>), the 3D model will be also downloaded to user local computer?

Sorry I have a lots of questions, because these questions are in my mind for a long time.

*ANY* code between <% and %> will ONLY run on the SERVER. It's useless to create an object on the server and expect the visual aspect of that object will work on the client.

I'm not sure about using <OBJECT>, but clearly <%...%> won't do what you want.

> The 3D model is created based on a lots of geometry data that stored in DB, and we won't allow user to modify any of these data, user can only upload some files or report some issues about it.

That's good. So you can just set your SQL Server DB to allow *ONLY* reads from the username and password that you give to the 3D program to access the DB.

This is *NOT* a trivial task. I certainly don't know how to configure SQL Server to do what you need, but I do know that it can be done. Hopefully, you have a DB Admin who knows what he/she is doing.

Thank you, I have more confidence now.
Is the remote access to DB dependent on the software you use or not language related?

Remote access to the DB is clearly not language dependent.

You can pretty finely control it, as I understand things.

You can permit access only from certain IP addresses.
You can restrict it to read-only access.
You can restrict it to access only via certain Stored Procedures.
You can restrict it to only certain databases (or course) or even only certain tables.

And of course all those controls can be combined with username to provide more or fewer restrictions, as needed.

Again, not my bailiwick. Only repeating what the DB Admins have told me.

Thank you, very apprecate your help.