Data access for Web-based Applications

2007-07-31T14:19:00.000-04:00

Looking at the technologies applications use for standards-based data access, the conceptual model hasn’t changed much in over a decade. Microsoft basically kicked it off with ODBC, which provided a standard way for Windows applications, like Excel, to get to a variety of databases from different vendors. JDBC followed with a Java-based, OO model for database access, but the fundamental client-server, fully-connected, statement-based programming model essentially mimicked ODBC. Microsoft, always tinkering with their development platform, introduced OLE DB for COM and, after that, ADO.NET. Neither was a radical paradigm shift, although ADO.NET did break the mold, somewhat, by adding capabilities for disconnected data processing. (Go here for a good history of Microsoft data access technologies.)

Now, as the software industry moves towards more web-based, Rich Internet Applications (RIAs), the usual methods for data access don’t necessarily fit very well. The internet forces us to think about database access differently. It’s inherently a disconnected, stateless model – at least from a transport (http) perspective. There are also significant issues around performance, reliability (transactions are hard when you’re not connected), and security. So, what's next?

One possibility is data access via web services. In the right context – interactive, web-based apps with short, quick, isolated data needs – web services makes a lot of sense. For apps with big and complex data access requirements, web services may not work so well (for the reasons already mentioned). Have we reached a point where data access standards will fork – one for web-based apps, another for “backoffice” apps. Maybe?

Watch this space for further discussion on this and related topics.

Technorati Tags: data+access ria odbc jdbc ado.net web-based+applications web+services

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DATA Connections

Data access for Web-based Applications

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