Accessing Arca Database Files from Multiple Clients on an Intranet

You can access the same database file from multiple clients using file sharing. However, this is not the same as using a database server, since the engine is running on each client connected, and only the database file is being shared by your network server. The server OS is responsible for sharing the file, and the clients accessing the database only lock the rows that are being written at any given time, so multiple projectors can open the same shared database file without a problem.

This can work well specially for read-only applications or where you do not have a lot of updates occurring at the same time, and for a limited number of customers, like a small network of kyosks or corporate machines accessing the same data from a server. It can be an useful and simple technique to distribute information using a centralized repository for data, and specially effective if most clients are only reading and not updating information constantly. It is also very simple to implement.

However there are other alternatives you should consider for multiuser or shared database access on large scale projects. Generally the best way to achieve this goal is not with an embedded database engine and a shared database file, but with a dedicated database server and a client Xtra. You should probably use a standard SQL backend (like MySQL/ PostgreSQL / Oracle / Access / MS SQL Server) connected to a Nebulae Multiuser Server (see the related technotes) or via PHP. The Nebulae approach is specially powerful because it allows you to connect to a shared database server from Shockwave as well, and without the need of any special client or license fees (SQL queries and results are submitted using Macromedia's own MultiUser Xtra and a regular multiuser session in Nebulae.)

Support for multiple users opens a whole new set of issues that may be handled better if you do not simply share a database file, but instead use a dedicated database server for large projects. Still, simply sharing the Arca Database file is possible and a very effective solution for some projects. The final decision depends on how many clients you have working with the database file at the same time, and how frequently they will update the data.