Companies who have their Web site powered by Windows NT will find this book appealing as it provides the reader with the necessary capabilities to bring full database functionality to the company Web site. The author provides the information and software tools (available on the companion CD- ROM) you need to configure a new or existing Web site so that visitors can access databases at the site or at other locations on the company's network. The techniques span the whole spectrum of database access. The reader will learn how to connect a Windows NT Web site to a wide range of databases, including those available for NT itself, UNIX and other database server platforms.

Following an in-depth review of Internet database fundamentals, including TCP/IP, Perl scripting, the ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) standard and the Structured Query Language (SQL), the author explains in a step-by-step way all the necessary procedures, starting off with how to configure NT to support databases, database connectivity and database publishingtechniques. Support for searches and queries in a Web database are covered. The theory behind databases to create a dynamic Web site customised to the Web surfer's requirements and dynamic HTML generation techniques are included.

This is complemented with the use of Perl scripts and SQL code. An overview of data entry and reporting techniques using templates is also provided. This is aided by the numerous utilities and programming software that is readily available on the CD-ROM.

To be quite honest, I did not find the book particularly enlightening. I have read better books on the same subject. In certain situations the text falls short. Java is only mentioned in a couple of pages in one of the final chapters. If you can, give it a read. Otherwise invest your money in something better.