Antavas said:
How do I do this? The file I created is on a shared network drive.
Everyone
on the team has access to it. Do they simply create a copy of it on their
desktop?
They don't create a copy on their desktop, YOU DO!.
The first thing to realize when using access is that you are using a tool
that creates software. This is a VERY important concept here. When you use
other parts of office such as word, or Excel you are using an application
that creates documents. So, with word, you have an application part called
the word program (or so called executable). After you LOAD the program
called "word" you THEN can consume word documents. The same goes for Excel,
you launch Excel, AND THEN open a document designed for that application.
And, not to split hairs, but when you browse through a bunch of folders and
then finally click on a word document you found, what actually occurs is the
APPLICATION part loads first, and THEN the document part is consumed by the
program part.
It is not a hard concept to grasp that software has a data part +
application part. In most organizations, installing the software on EACH
desktop computer is not even given a second thought. So, if you want to use
word, you install word on EACH computer. If you want to use Excel, then
again, it is common knowledge, and common sense that you install the
application on the workstation. Often, you will share some documents on a
server, and allow users to open those documents. Note carefully how even in
this case, the software (application part) is STILL INSTALLED on the
workstation. Sure, you can put the DATA PART, or so called document part on
a shared server folder. However, you STILL installed the software part on
each computer.
There are good many reasons as to why we install the software part on EACH
workstation. A few reasons are:
a.. The software now does not have to travel across the network each time
it is used. It would be a waste of network resources if applications such as
word etc. had to be loaded across the network and use up precious network
bandwidth. Remember, networks are MUCH slower then your hard disk to load
files. Remember, the network is a shared resource. If you have two users on
the network pulling data, then you have 1/2 the amount of resources
available. You must treat your network with the utmost respect, as it is a
delicate and precious (limited) resource. When you have 4 people on the same
network, you have 1/4 the amount of performance. You MUST thus be very
careful. Imagine how slow things would be if all users loaded their software
from the network each time?
b.. If one user makes a change to their printer setup or just a general
change to their settings, they have their OWN copy of the application to
play with, and NOT interfere with other users on the network. Can you
imagine two users fighting over how their excel sheet should be laid out at
the same time!!
c.. If a user's software crashes, then no other users are affected. Can
you imagine if word were to freeze up, or lock on your computer and everyone
else in the building also experienced a freeze up or lock up. Again, it
makes sense to install the application part on each pc as to ISOLATE
individual's problems that might occur in the application. So, installing
software on each PC is a MUST DO from a reliability point of view. You don't
want to allow ONE user's problem to become the problem of everyone else.
This is again why we split a database in ms-access in multi-user mode
(otherwise you will get NO reliability).
I could add MANY more reasons to the above list, but suffice to say that it
makes a lot of sense to install the software on each computer. I don't think
there are too many people that have trouble understanding the above
concepts.
However, when it comes to ms-access, the above concepts for some strange
reason are complete ignored. Users all of a sudden get some type of freeze
in the brain, and all of a sudden compete ignore how they deployed software
on their computers for that last 15 years!
Why would you treat your software application you developed ANY different
then
how your IT department has installed other applications on EACH computer for
the
last 15 years? Why add of a sudden this huge and hate towards
one particular application you developed? Why is this application being
treated
different then every other program?
I suppose it possible that you have an IT department that can't tell the
difference between software and a some data or a document like Excel.
However
if that IT department can't tell the difference between a document and
applications , then why are they still on your company payroll? There is
serious
competence going on here if your IT people don't know the difference
between programs and data or documents.
Ms-access is a software development tool. You might write a letter in word,
but in ms-access in addition to typing in data, or text like word, you ALSO
CREATE SOFTWARE. When you start using ms-access, then you have to put on a
developers hat, and begin to think from a developer point of view.
You can use many different kinds of tools to create software with. These
tools like c++, VB, and yes even ms-access are used to build forms (the user
interface part), and also write code. These forms + code are what we call an
application. It is this application part that you create that needs to be
installed on each computer. You always installed the word application on
your computer. So, now that YOU ARE writing software, why should you throw
out all of the ideas and concepts as to how software works on your computer?
You can use a software tool like VB to create a word processing application,
and once done, you will install that application on each computer. I should
point out that you can also use ms-access to create a word processor, or a
Pac man game. Make no mistake here; ms-access is a tool that allows you to
create software. After you create that software, you need to install that
software on EACH computer like you done with everything else you used.
So, you install and place a copy of this program you developed on each
computer. Perhaps your users are used to installing software and you can
give them instructions, but usually these types of details are handled for
your users.
