This is a respost as my previous post does not seem to be appearing...

I am not sure if this is the best/right place to post this question, but
here goes...

I would like to add functionality to applications that I write and
distribute to do things like the following:

  x  when the app. loads, check to see if the user is "connected" to the
internet.
  x  if they are connected, go out to a "URL" that will contain an Access
database with records of messages and pull all messages destined for the
particular user (identified via some locally stored ID) that have not been
received yet.
  x  also, if connected, send any unsent messages (from local Access
database) up to the aforementioned database.
  x  if user not connected, make a way for them to connect right then and
there (after which could do above outlined things)

I am very new to doing stuff on web pages but not new to Delphi. Are these
things easy to accomplish with "native" Delphi components? Are there good
third-party components that facilitate this? Any sample code or information
on how to go about doing these things? I would appreciate any direction you
could give...not looking for someone to write it all for me (though, feel
free if you're so inclined,,,lol!)...just point me in the right direction so
I have some hope of "pinning the tail on the donkey"!

To test if your computer is connected to a network see:
http://community.borland.com/article/0,1410,17763,00.html

Note this does not mean that the computer has an internet connection, it just
means they have a network connection. You should properly handle connection
timeouts or errors.

I think that you can connect to an access database through IIS using ADO and the
"MS Remote" provider. I have never done this because dont't like access.
For more information you might want to look:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/oled...

Try:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=dialup+connection+delphi
for components and information on creating a dialup connection or dialing an
existing one.

Regards,
  Gardner