The integration of the database into your Web applications allows you or your clients to update the database through a Web browser and to post the information retrieved from the database onto your Web site. This makes changing Web site content as simple as adding, modifying or deleting data within the database. Popular database programs include Microsoft Access and Oracle. Middleware is the glue that makes the Web browser, the Web server and the database work together seamlessly. It is software supported by the Web server that integrates database operations into a Web application.
Scripts are programs used to process data, format data and perform database operations.
The emergence of middleware is largely responsible for the increased popularity of database-driven Web applications. Exhibit 1 provides an overview of middleware products. Exhibit 2, below, shows how all these tools work together. When a user with access to the system requests to retrieve or manipulate data, the Web browser sends a request to the server to execute a script or program. The middleware on the server recognizes the request to execute a script.