Design Ethiopia

Database and enterprise integration is a very powerful technique for creating a wide variety of data-driven and transaction-driven web applications. Although this web development component is similar and shares many of the characteristics of CGI programming, this specific application of CGI-like programming has a unique set of constraints and issues associated with it. Many database queries follow a common sequence of interaction steps: generate a search string and submit the search; view the list of returned records (hits) and locate the correct record; and view details of the desired record.

Database Interaction Guidelines
Database and enterprise integration is about providing web access to what are often huge repositories of information. Care should be taken to provide sufficient capabilities in the interface for the users to achieve their goals without being overwhelmed. Some suggested ways to structure a user’s interaction with databases include the following:

Provide Users with Just Enough Search Capability
Databases often contain much more information than we can usefully search. Unless the user really needs advanced search capabilities, Boolean arguments on every data field make the search task overly complicated.

Limit the Number of Returned Records
Don’t just dump out all 500 records in response to a query. Give the user a choice about how many records to return, if possible. Chances are, if the return list is too large, the user will want to refine the search anyway.

Provide Sufficient Information in the Return List
Display search results in a logical order and with enough detail so that the user can distinguish one from another without viewing their details.

Database Development
As discussed, databases are an extremely powerful tool for web development. For lightweight applications (those with relatively few records or infrequent use), a lightweight database engine such as Microsoft Access or Filemaker Pro is just fine.

Databases can be rapidly created in those environments and web applications rapidly prototyped. For heavyweight applications like an e-commerce site serving thousands of requests per second, an industrial strength database management system is required.

High-performance database management systems such as DB2 or Oracle, however, have significant development overhead and typically require highly trained professionals to set up and maintain.