Sharing a database

Biblioscape allows a single database to be shared by many users with an Internet connection or a Local Area Network (LAN) connection. Biblioscape installation includes a database server called BiblioRemote. Anyone using Biblioscape can then be given full or limited access to a shared database via the server. This provides an alternative to BiblioWeb as a way of accessing a Biblioscape database remotely, and it is provided free with all editions of Biblioscape. Not only does it allow groups of users to share a single database from anywhere in the world, it also allows a single user who works from more than one location to use the same database.

To open a database through the BiblioRemote server, users on remote computers have to run Biblioscape first. Instead of opening a database on their local computer, they open a small file which has all the necessary identifying information to locate the BiblioRemote server on their LAN or the Internet. Authentication (i.e. user name and password) can either be embedded in the small file or asked for each time the user opens a connection to the remote database. Once the connection to the remote database is opened, Biblioscape behaves almost exactly as it would if the database were on the local computer. The main difference is that it responds somewhat more slowly, because the data displayed must be transferred over the LAN or the Internet. The faster the connection, the less noticeable the lags.

Besides sharing a Biblioscape database through the BiblioWeb server and the BiblioRemote server, you can also access a Biblioscape database from other applications through the Biblioscape ODBC driver. This makes it possible for developers to integrate a Biblioscape database into a bigger information system. The Biblioscape ODBC driver can be purchased separately.