Okay, i have an serious question...
Latelly i have been thinking and i came up of an idea to have programm that would edit informations and browse content in a database... for example , mysql ... now everything would be easy if the server where the database is were on my local machine... but it's not...

basically i'm curious is it possible to make application, and connect for example to some server who has database set up allready,and edit fields from the created application,submit edited fields and change data in database in real time...

basically a program that i run on pc, fill up fields, he connects to server that's somewhere on internet, fill the database with informations ...

if something like this is possible, please tell me where to look and which book to buy. because i really really need and want this ... i just hope it's possible...

thanks in advance

I don't know about "on the internet" (though it should be possible), but the answer is definitely "yes" on an intranet. (I don't know how many people want to expose their DB to the i-net.)

In fact, I would hazard a guess that far and away the most common database use is this type of access.

With a DB like MS Access, you need to have access to the actual .mdb file. But more mainstream DBs like Oracle, SQL Server, et al., spend their life exposing themselves to network traffic. They have a "listener" service looking for requests received through IP/TCP, they service those requests, and they send results in response to them.

Within VB you establish a connection object which has the necessary settings to talk to the DB, and all requests for data, or requests to perform updates use this connection object in a fashion akin to how a telephone uses telephone lines.

For your purposes, I would think you would want to have a web program set up on a server which is in a location that has intranet access to the DB. The web app would be contacted using a web browser, and would then be able to "hold a conversation with the DB" whose topic of discussion would be that which was submitted by the browser. The browser does not have direct contact with the DB, but with the web application. The web application has communication with the browser, and separately has communication with the database instance.

Pretty much any book on VB.NET will cover this.

okay maybe your solution would work, but i have it in mind like this:

3 groups of people have 3 different set of applications, at the moment for the purposes it's supposed to be, this is the best solution and that's how the boss has it in mind, i just try to make it happen ...
so each group has it's own application and talks to sql server and each group has it's own set of data that they can input in the database...

that's why i asked how i can make something that will talk to database over internet , and edit fields in database over internet ... because this would be used by lots of people ( so he says ) and he wants to have the admin application on his pc which has all the power toys and all access rights to mess with everything ( god help us ) ...

anyhow there is something made similar in asp.net but he wants real program, because he can then convince his boss that it's more secure so finally we would have like 3 sets of people doing work in same time instead of current 2 sets of people who we send data sheets, they fill it, send back to us, and we put it in base... which is idiotioc to me, that's why i suggested this solution and now he has "his" ideas how this should look and work...

basically all i need is a connection string explanation on how application can connect to sql database on some host , tell it to delete some field, add something new in some field and that's about it... the connection string from within application is the worst thing, all others i doubt that they should represent some problem. i'll catch it up "in the fly" , lol ...

so anyone know how i can connect to some server from within application and start "conversation" with database ... since we have to set up database it will be probablly mysql or something similar...but that's minor, crucial part is the connection string , that allows application from desktop to connect to the main database on some distant server... if anyone has some idea i would highly appriciate it...

Are all of the people who are going to be using this on the same network?
(Can they all see the same servers in Windows Explorer, for instance?)

In this case, the database should be accessible to all.
In any of the .EXEs that you are contemplating creating, the code can create a connection object. (If you have .NET, there are tools to let you create a connection string while knowing almost nothing about how all this works.)

But if these individuals are at different locations, and do not share a network, there are a few solutions.
You could secure the website they now use (convert it to Secure Socket Layer communication, which would take the http in the current URL and turn it into https, for instance. This is very] secure!

What it the network arrangement?