hey guys.
i need advice and guidance for a new project i want to start. imagine a company with some subsections that each one has a program and a separate database on sql server 2008 express. what i want to do is unit these apps so that all of them upload their data into a unified database on a server. and then the server could for example upload the website automatically or give better reports. so i want to know what stuff i need to learn. i already am good with c# programming but not on a network, and i've done some programs with c# and sqlserver 2008 express some of which this company is using. i also like to do this one in a multilayer model.
thanks to all who answer i really need a headstart

Well I suggest you break it down into individual goals.

Your first goal is to get all this data into a single Database. So analyse each program's current database configuration and see if you can create a conjoined model. If not, that's not a problem, you simply put all their separate projects in different databases on the same database server. (Perhaps a MySQL Server?)

Once you have the existing programs working with a single database server, you can begin worrying about your web-site ^^

By multi-layer model are you saying you want to build your own API in front your database? I personally think this is a good idea =) So your next step is to think about what kind of technology you want to use. I recommend WCF if your networking skills are not up to speed. You create your service contracts (methods) and then import your service reference (just like web services) into your app. Then you call it just like you would on a normal class.

Once you've got that, you can start your website =)

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