Chapter 5. Adding Internet Access

IN THIS CHAPTER

• ASP and Database Development

• Internet Access in Visual FoxPro 7

• The StandardForm Class Template

• Writing Web Connection Functions

• Introducing the Server

• Modifying the Data Tier to Add Internet Data Access

• Building XML Web Services with Visual FoxPro 8

• XML Web Services in Visual Basic .NET

• Adding References to the Web Service to Your Client

In the preceding two chapters, we looked at how to build a simple Windows Forms application in Visual FoxPro and in Visual Basic .NET. You learned how to use either local tables or SQL Server in both environments. You saw how FoxPro requires additional coding to use SQL Server, whereas Visual Basic .NET treats local tables and SQL Server tables exactly the same way. Until a few years ago, those were the two technologies we had to offer our clients .

That has changed. Without a doubt, the Internet is the biggest thing that's ever happened to database application development. Using Internet-enabled applications, users can access their data from anywhere that has a telephone connection. With broadband access, the user experience is almost identical to that of a local area network user .