Excel users share a database over the internet?

Nick Hodge has written on importing data from web queries (thanks Nick!)

I'd like to ask what are easily supported solutions for multiple Excel users to both upload and download data from a shared database on a web server.

The kind of server I should choose is not a problem - Windows or Linux - as long as I can use generic components rather than having to install something specific on the server that could cause support problems with the ISP.

AFAIK there is an ODBC driver for MySql -  I haven't tried it yet - so that might be a solution. I assume Access is not considered robust enough for such work.

It needs to be secure so that nobody can just hack into the Excel VBA and substitute some other user's ID and seen their data.

Or maybe I could use Excel for upload but standard queries in PHP for reporting in a browser.

Anyway, what are people happily using for this kind of application?

TIA

Patrick

I don't think there is a silver bullet here, but I can tell you what I use. 

 I often use a Microsoft SQL Server database to store the data.  Then I use Excel VBA to call and send information using  a combination of ADO and Stored Procedures.  I use this model especially for data entry tools where many users have to submit information to a central server.  Excel allows me to give them some nice real-time reporting in addition to a common data entry tool.

I find people like the familiar Excel interface.  Oh, and there are lots of ways to secure the userid and password in the code. 

I am pretty sure you can connect to a MySQL database using a DSNless connection string.  Try this

connect_string = "Driver={Mysql}; Server=[server_name];

Port=[port_number]; Database=[database_name];

UID=[username]; PWD=[password]"

Thanks, Mark,

To get the kind of row level security I was asking about, it looks like I would need to use Views:

http://forums.mysql.com/read.php?30,107391,108115#msg-108115

Bill Karwin says: "The equivalent is to define a view restricted to a subset of rows, and let a user query the view, even though she does not have privilege to query the base table. "

CREATE DEFINER=`root`@`localhost` SQL SECURITY DEFINER VIEW `foo_v`
  AS select `foo`.`i` AS `i` from `foo` where (`foo`.`i` < 15)';

GRANT ALL on test.foo_v TO 'bill'@'localhost' identified by 'password';