AMS connection - SOAP vs http vs direct db?

[sferguson]

OK - I'm about to get in over my head here with this question, but... that's never stopped me before

I've got an app that we prototyped/built in AMS thats the front-end to a SQLite db. We use the AMS app to do basic client-side queries and simple data input. A friend helped build a set of secure https web pages (using .Net and IIS) to do similar look-ups and data input so anyone could access or update the data over the web.

It worked great! So great in fact that it's starting to sell commercially. Problem is that we're starting to run into support problems because of SQLite db locking issues.

We've reached a concesus that we need to move to a different db - presumably SQL or MySQL.

All that having been said... The .Net web stuff will easily talk to SQL - so what I'm wondering about is the best method of getting info in and out of my AMS app.

* HTTP
Early on I had considered using http (or https) to securely get and post info in and out of the db through the web - which sounded cool because then the db could live somewhere outside the LAN, like a hosting facility.

* DB CONNECTION
I've just read some of the AMS 6 posts and examples about direct connections to MySQL (AWESOME - THANKS!) which seems like a pretty similar approach to things are working now. SQL Express looks like the ideal choice - provided that we can get our AMS app hooked up to it. (any succes stories with AMS & SQL Express ?)

* SOAP/WEBSERVICES
My .Net friend suggested using SOAP/webservices, which I know very little about - but he's very adept in this area and willing to help build it out. Can AMS get data in and out of things using SOAP/webservices?

Any insights, suggestions or comments would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[sferguson]

Can anybody throw me a bone?

[srussell]

Scott,

I have some limited experience with authoring tools and SOAP calls... Not sure about your particular setup, but the return result was an XML string. You would have to parse the XML to find the element tag you're looking for.

For example, we wrote some web services were just Boolean functions returning "true" or "false" for "IsInternetConnected".

Have you considered using PHP? It's fairly easy to implement with AutoPlay

[sferguson]

Thanks for the insights. I know there's lots of great PHP examples floating around here. All the web stuff has already been developed in .Net, so things are pretty far down that road.

It looks like I'm going to have to start exploring ways to hook the AMS app up to SQL Express and just keep it on the local machine - but it'd be great to take it off-site where it could be hosted else where - and still have the AMS app querie and write to the db through a secure connection via the web.