Question

I am looking into writing a web-based vehicle tracking system. The framework I have in mind looks something like this:

Client application — Database — Database updater.

Client application: This would query the database for information and then display this information on a map.

Database: holds vehicle information such as speed, location, payload etc.

Database update: This application would need to continually check for information received from vehicles and then add that to the database.

I am confident that with my current skill set and some research and learning, I could write the client application and interface it to a database. However, I am at a loss as to how to write the database updater. Presumably, this would be an application running continually on the server, waiting for information to be received from vehicles and updating the database. Is this something I can do with ASP.NET and Visual Basic? Or would this require a different way of thinking than writing web pages? Any pointers to relevant technologies?

Thanks

–Amr

Answer 1

The “database updater” would sit on a server “listening”. A client application, from the driver or dispatcher, would use this application to open a conversation with the “updater”. When the “updater” recieves data, it sends to data base.

The client application can be Windows.Forms (desktop/application) or Web.Forms (ASP.NET/browser).

The “updater” is a web service that sits on the server. The desktop/application posts data to the web service. The ASP.NET/browser would do the same thing.

VB.NET is perfect for what you want to do.

1. Create Database.
2. Create Web Service to write data to database.
3. Create Web Site.
4. Create web page to display data.
5. Create web page to post data to web service.
6. Optionally, create desktop application to post data to web service.

Creating a desktop application is optional because you can do what you need through a web site.