Tabledesigner 1.0a Academic Edition

Getting Started

Welcome!

Getting Started contains information to help you get up to speed with your new Tabledesigner product. The document is organized into sections to make it easier for you to find information of interest. To read about each section, review "In this guide".

Tabledesigner is used to easily model and create Microsoft Access and Microsoft SQL Server databases. Using Tabledesigner, you can reverse engineer databases, generate databases, integrate databases, normalize data, and migrate databases to MS Access and MS SQL Server database types. Once a model of the database is created, you can generate it into HTML 3.2 Web pages, and database schema. From the application, users can run queries and perform add, edit, and delete operations on the database using any standard Web browser.

SQL Services is a set of self-registering ActiveX®/COM components that provide transaction and application services on-demand to the Web applications generated by Tabledesigner.

For more information and a self-running demo of Tabledesigner, please visit http://www.tabledesigner.com.

In this guide

To help you get started with these Tabledesigner products, this guide includes the following important information:

Inside Tabledesigner
Describes product components, features, and capabilities.
System requirements
Defines hardware and software requirements.
Before you begin
Provides information important to successful implementation of these Tabledesigner products and third-party software.
Finding more information
Contains a list of other places to look to get additional information and help solve problems.
Installing Tabledesigner
Details installation procedures and options, including online registration.
Next tasks
Lists tasks you will generally perform following installation to make your system fully operational, such as entering a license code and configuring other system elements.

Inside Tabledesigner

Tabledesigner is a Microsoft® Windows®-based development platform for modeling and creating database schemas and Web based database forms. With Tabledesigner, you create and customize databases and applications in a semantic modeling environment. A model serves as a single source for the database and the application, which guarantees that they go together. With Tabledesigner, you can:

Reverse engineer existing ODBC data sources into models, or build models manually using predefined domains.
Combine tables from different databases to build applications that use data from various sources.
Migrate data structures and data values in the underlying database, and normalize data in domain/normal key format in response to model changes.
Create Microsoft Access and SQL Server databases from registered ODBC data sources. You can also create new databases from scratch.
Populate a generated database with imported data or run the Tabledesigner Import utility separately.
Generate ASP- and JScript-based Web forms that provide access to databases over an intranet, Internet, or extranet site. Applications can be generated with default pages, menus, navigation, and online help. Database connections are defined for you. Applications are created automatically, using the Application Generator Wizard.

SQL Services is a set of self-registering ActiveX/COM components that provide server-side support for running database applications generated in Tabledesigner. These components provide transaction and application services on-demand to database applications generated by Tabledesigner. You install SQL Services on the Web server to provide generated applications with these services: transaction management, dynamic SQL query generation, and rule enforcement.

System requirements

Hardware Requirements

166MHz Pentium® or better, with 64MB or more of RAM
25MB of available disk space
VGA, Super VGA, or other Windows 98/NT/2000 compatible video adapter (256 color or better recommended)

Web Server

Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 3.0 (with Active Server Pages) or higher

DBMS Software

The target environment must have a licensed copy of the database management system (DBMS) that runs the application database. Depending on your database, you must have a licensed installation of Microsoft Access 95/97/2000, SQL Server 6.5/7.0. For optimal performance, your database should run on a dedicated server.

To work with Microsoft Access, you must obtain MSJet35.dll and DAO350.dll.
To work with SQL Server databases, you must install SQL Server Service Pack 3.

The latest versions of ODBC drivers can be obtained at http://www.microsoft.com/data/

Note: If you are using a special or custom ODBC driver, you may need to alias it to a driver that Tabledesigner can process. For details, see Aliasing a special or custom ODBC driver in the online help.

User Desktop Requirements

A browser that supports HTML 3.2. You can run Web applications using Microsoft Internet Explorer version 3.02 and later (version 4.01 recommended), and Netscape™ Navigator version 3.04 and later.

Note: A JScript patch is required for Internet Explorer 3.02. To download this patch, go to the following location: http://msdn.microsoft.com/scripting/default.htm, navigate to JScript downloads, and select Install Microsoft Scripting Engines version 3.1 or later.

Other software

Microsoft Visual InterDev, version 6.0, or later is required for modifying generated ASP pages containing the DBAppLayoutStyler Design-Time Control. For more information, see online help in Tabledesigner.

Before you begin

Before you install the product, you should verify that the software documented in the System Requirements section is installed.

On the Web server or on a workstation that you will use to run Tabledesigner, be sure to install Service Pack 4 or later if you are running Windows NT. Next, you should install Option Pack 3 to get the latest version of IIS. It is important to install this software before you install your Tabledesigner product. Other software to install on the Web server includes the ODBC drivers that provide access to your database.

On a remote database server, be sure to configure guest user accounts to enable a connection between the Web server and the database server. For more information, you should review online help.

Finding more information

There are numerous publications that provide additional information about each product. Unless otherwise noted, you must install a product to access its associated publication. Some publications are available only with certain products.

Online help for Tabledesigner: A comprehensive Windows help resource that documents procedures, dialog boxes, menu commands, and concepts. To search for the topics you need after installation, click the Help menu and choose Contents and Index. A good place to start is the Learning to Use chapter.
Default Web application help: Online HTML-based help provided with each generated Web application covers what users need to know to work with the application. You can open help by clicking the Help button from an application page. For more information, search online help for WebHelp.

Installing Tabledesigner

To install Tabledesigner, double click on the "TDAcademic.exe" icon in the folder you downloaded Tabledesigner to. The Setup program starts automatically.

During install, system files are extracted and copied to the Windows System directory on the Web server. All other DLLs, drivers, support files, and online documentation are copied to the directory you specify.

Note: Setup does not configure Web services, install third-party software, register databases, or install generated Web applications.

When the initial Setup screen appears, choose from the following options:

Install: Choose this option to begin installing.
Exit: Choose this option to end the installation program.

Review the Welcome screen, and then click Next.
Read the license agreement, and then choose from the following options:

Accept: Choose this option to continue installation.
Decline: Choose this option to cancel installation. The Setup program halts, providing a confirmation screen in which you can click Resume or Exit Setup.

In the User Information screen, enter your Name and Company, and then click Next.
Click Next to create the Tabledesigner Program Folder in the Start menu, or choose another existing folder from the list, and then click Next.

The final Setup screen provides a variety of choices. You can choose from the following options:

I would like to view the Getting Started file: Choose this option to read about system requirements and install options..
I would like to start Tabledesigner: Choose this option to start the Tabledesigner program.

Once you make the choices you want, click Finish to complete Setup.

Next tasks

Setup is now complete. To get started, you should review the "Learning to use Tabledesigner" topic in the Online Help. You will find Step by Step procedures on how to create new models/databases, reverse engineer and convert existing databases and create Web forms.

To process your databases through Tabledesigner generated Web forms, you must complete the following tasks:

Configure virtual directories with Execute and Read Access in Web services. You must do this in Web server software.
Enable access between remote database and Web servers. To do this, create a guest user account on the database server. For more information, see online help.
Register databases as ODBC data sources. Registration on the Web server must be identical to the registration on the computer used to generate the application.
Create guest accounts for database servers that you plan to run remotely from the Web server.

Note: You cannot successfully provide access to generated Web applications without first configuring your Web server.

You can find steps for these tasks in the Tabledesigner online help.

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