I have a forum hosted on a Unix server and running vBulletin. I would like to create a database that my users could view and potentially add records to. It seems like a really simple thing to do in something like Visual Basic, but very time-consuming to write all the PHP and HTML from scratch. Is there some way that I can use something like VB to do this and then generate code that would be transportable to my vBulletin pages? Any direction would be much appreciated!!

First question is, are you wanting to run PHP or VB? Some environements can run both, but why would you? What is the "database" you are wanting to add? What I mean is is a contacts database (i.e. name, address, phone, etc.), a music database, what? The problem is that the pages would need to be coded to "fit" the database. The code for the pages would need to know what fields in the fprm match up to what fields in the database. Plus, the form fields should have certain restrictions to pre-validate the data (you don't want to allow someone to enter alpha characters into a DB field for numbers). So, based upon what the database is supposed to track, I would search for an existing solution. By the way, your users already have the ability to add and edit records in A database since your forum is a database! Michael J

Thanks for your reply. The database I want to add is a Coupon Database. I have searched high and low for anything that I could just modify to do the job. I've searched vBulletin forums for existing hacks. They just are eluding me if they exist. I know the users have the ability to write to the database, I have actually implemented a *really* simple test to see that it works. But I am kind of bummed out thinking of all the work I will need to put into it to make it what I really want. There will be lots of tables that will be joined in all sorts of ways - lots of queries to write. I just know that in MS Access I could do this in about an hour and I keep thinking there *has* to be something out there to help me do this in the enviornment I'm in now. Just have to figure out "what".

And P.S. why do my posts have weird returns in them?

"I've searched vBulletin forums for existing hacks." It might be easier to find A solution (not necessarily a vBulletin solution) and then integrate it into vBulletin. All you would really need to do is get the new solution to utilize the user database. Unfortunately, it sounds as if your needs are specific enough that there may not be an existing solution. I worked on an elaborate "coupon" solution in the past. However, I do not own the code and it was very proprietary. You might want to look into generating a list of the features you need and look into outsourcing it - if you have any budget for it. "And P.S. why do my posts have weird returns in them?" No idea. What do you mean by "weird return"? Michael J