I want to know if it is possible to use an Excel file online as a database. I know it is possible to convert an Excel file to a MySQL database, and that may be what I need to do. Maybe a tool that can convert the Excel file to a MySQL database on-the-file when it is uploaded to the server.

I want an tool in a browser that will look at a db. I have a made a feature matrix in an Excel file. So the A column contains a model number, and the 1 row contains a feature name. I want to have an HTML/PHP page with a pop-up menu that will contain all model numbers, and then another pop-up menu that will contain all feature names, and will show result of whatever is in the cell where the model and the feature type intersect. This is helpful for very large feature matrix files where it is difficult to see the entire file because it won't fit on the screen. It is also good because any user can edit an Excel file.

Yes, there are many ways to do this but you have to ask yourself some questions to decide which is the best way for you. If you have just a few remote users that need access to the data and you do not want to get into an involved programming effort then you could use something like http://www.badblue.com to provide direct access to the Excel file from a PC.

* You could direct access the Excel file with ODBC but you'd need the drivers available on the server to do this, not likely with a shared host. * There are several PHP Classes built to interact with Excel files. Search on http://www.phpclasses.org/ I haven't tried any of these. * You could devise an export of the excel data to CSV files then use the data in Flat file system, import to MySQL or other DB. * You could use MySQL database Management program like SQLyog to maintain and import data from Excel or CSV.

Any of these paths are going to require a level of technical ability and time to implement and maintain.