Going Live on GoDaddy with VWD and SQL Express

Are you using Visual Web Developer Express for web site creation?

Trying to set up your database on a GoDaddy shared hosting plan?

Salmon Training has developed a Special Report which walks through the process of taking a simple database application from scratch to live rollout. Let us save you from hours of frustration by showing what works!

We've made available a section of the report for free (in the Table of Contents), in which we take a hard look at the database connection details in our web.config file. This important section explains why the attributes that work so well on your PC or laptop won't work on the live site. Experienced developers can jump from here to live rollout.

For the less experienced developer, the Special Report includes sections walking step-by-step through working on the GoDaddy site to create your live database, set up tables, and configure the live database connections.

From Scratch to Live Rollout: the GoDaddy Experience!

We believe in the motto "keep it simple!"

This online report is built around a single web-page that writes data to a single table.

It happens to be a useful database application that lets visitors sign up for your newsletter - but that's just a bonus!

By keeping it simple, we take you step by step through the entire process of developing a small database application and getting it working on your live GoDaddy shared hosting site.

The problem that so many people have with Visual Web Developer is that it uses a SQL Express database, but their live site uses SQL Server. This is exactly what we address in this report.

"Simple" doesn't mean "basic". This isn't a 1-page report, it's 20 pages of tutorial that walks through the technical aspects of what you need to know in clear and practical terms. Lots of screenshots let you follow along with ease.

Have a look at the Table of Contents to see what we mean!

Already trying to "Go Live" but baffled by GoDaddy?

Take a deep breath and relax for one hour, and follow through each step in this report. When you're finished, you can remove the single web page and database table from your live site - but you will have a working database and configuration file to continue with your own projects.

Trying to build a membership site?

Our Special Report doesn't use the ASP.NET 2.0 membership features and database tables. We've developed a Training Pack with tutorials, videos and software to take a membership site live. Click here for information on the Training Pack - unless you're using the Personal Starter Kit!

Using the Personal Starter Kit?

We've developed a Training Pack with tutorials, videos and software to take your Personal Starter Kit website live. It includes the details in the Special Report, with all the extra complexity of installing security and the "personal" database. Click here for information on the Training Pack.

1. Introduction

This special report is designed to be a hands-on experience which will lead you through the process of taking a simple database application from scratch to live rollout. You will get the most out of the report by working through each example on your PC and live site.

2. The Project Requirements

This section gives a summary of the requirements of our special application - one web page writing to one table.

3. Creating the Website on our PC

This section walks through the process of creating the website in the development environment - our PC!

4. Creating the Database on our PC

This section walks through the process of creating our application database.

5. Table Design

The application only has one table, but as professional database consultants - we can't skip the design! The tutorial provides a brief but clear explanation of typical choices in table design. This builds up your knowledge for creating tables on the live site.

6. Creating the Table in Visual Web Developer

You may have created many tables in Visual Web Developer, but it's important to walk through the process. This sets us up for the later section on creating the table on the live site, where we show that although the GoDaddy table tool looks different, the underlying process is the same.

7. Configuring the Data Source

This section creates the connection to our database table, which leads to the next section.

8. FREE SECTION - the Development Connection (click here to read this section)

We take a hard look at the database connection details in our web.config file. This important section explains why the attributes that work so well in the development envornment won't work on the live site.

9. Developing the Web Page

We whizz through developing a web page with a control that hooks in to the database table. This page is going to migrate unchanged to the live environment, where we'll use it to "test" the live site.

10. Testing the Application in the Development Environment

We notice that many developers skip this important step so we run through the process of how to verify that the data is entering the database table correctly. We will perform the same functional tests on the live site.

11. Working on the Live Site

This section gives an overview of the differences between the live and development site, concentrating on what we're going to have to change to take our application live.

12. Using the GoDaddy Control Panel for Database Work

Lots of screen shots in this section, while we start the process of setting up a new database on the live site.

13. Using the GoDaddy Control Panel to Create the Live Database

We use the GoDaddy Control Panel to create our new SQL Server database, taking careful note of the details we'll need to know later for our web.config file.

14. The Godaddy Database Tools

This is where many developers come to a halt, wondering how to transfer their local tables up to the live site. There are a number of diferent ways to do this - we show the simplest method.

15. Using the GoDaddy Tools to Create the Live Table

Lots of screenshots in this section, that gives you the tutorial that GoDaddy "forgot" to provide.

16. Uploading the Web Page

We whizz through this section as the web page itself can be migrated without change.

17. The Live web.config File

Everything has been leading up to this crucial section, where we set up the database and security configuration details for our live site.

18. Verifying the Live Site is Working

In this section we use our web page to test that it writes data correctly to our SQL Server 2000 table. Again, lots of screen shots as we use the GoDaddy tools to look at the data in the table.

19. Extracting Data from the Live Site

In this section we use the GoDaddy tools to extract all the data from our live table in a format that can be conveniently imported into a spreadsheet.

20. Conclusion

We wrap up with a request for feedback and suggestions for further reports that would help you, the developer, have a smooth time maintaining your database-driven website.

Purchase Your Online Report

We provide this report as an Online Report, which you access by logging into our web site using any standard web browser. This means that you must be online to use the report. This is not a PDF download.

Access to the Online Report is instant on purchase. When you register, you are logged in straight away to our site and can start reading! We send a link to the report and your login details to your email address for future use 24X7.

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CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE

We're offering this Special Report at a Special Price of $10!

Additional VAT may be added inside the European Union, and where else applicable.

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