I need to peel some data out of a large database. That database happens to be some strange Microsoft GUI-driven database that does not have a normal interface (I can't connect to the database without using the GUI). The guy that controls this thing says that I can install some sort of SQL interface on the computer that holds the data & have access to it just as I would expect. Does this make any sense to anyone? I'm not super familiar with databases - especially those that aren't MySQL.

Does this mean I can install mysql on the computer, then somehow point it to the MS data? Wouldn't the MS database have some sort of proprietary format, or are all SQL's the same in the way they hold data?

My goal is to make automated, daily reports from the machine (that lives at someone else's facility) and post them on the web (from a Windows box - ::sigh:: ) so that I can see them without going to each facility that has one of these computers. Does this sound feasible? Anyone familiar with an MS database that sounds like what I described (so I can read up on it)?

Thanks.

What do you like to do with the data? store this in a local database or just get some data out of it and use it in a program?

If that is the case you need all you need is a SQL driver like odbc jdbc and from your code you make your program connect with the driver to the database and get the data.

So what do you like to do with it and in wich language are you coding?

Regards,
suntac.

Thanks for the reply.
Just get some data and use it in a program. No need to edit anything - just making reports
This is correct. Should the driver exist on the system already, or is this something I will need to get?
That is probably a rhetorical question, but... the language doesn't matter - something that's simple to get working on a Windows machine. php? perl? c++? I image I'll use one of the frist two so that I don't have to mess with MS Visual C++. It's pretty simple to get Active Perl running on a Windows Machine, maybe I'll just go that route unless someone has a good reason to use something else.

Any good sources of information on this topic that you could refer me to?