Moving from MS Access to Visual Basic.Net

[CAM]

Hello,

I am wondering if someone can give me some pointers. Currently I am using
Access 2002 I developed an inventory tracking database, which this database
is used in California and in Florida. Unfortunaley Access is not very good
as an enterprise wide database, accessing the data from one side of the
United States to the other its so slow. About 5 years ago I developed a
database using Visual Basic 6 as the front end and Crystal Report as the
report writer and Access (tables and queries) as the backend. It worked
great and fast, but this database was used only in one location not over the
other side of the United States. My thoughts are using Visual Basic Net as
the front end, Crystal Reports as the Report Writer and SQL server as the
backend and get rid of MS Access.My main goal is to make an enterprise wide
database without the slow performance of MS Access. We are on a budget
like most IT shops and I thought using the combination of Visual Basic net,
Crystal Reports, SQL server will be the least expensive way to go. My main
concern is performance and the number of users, about 25 - 30 users. Can
someone give me their input. I like to have much input as I can get before
I can do any major undertaking. Thank you in advance.

 

[AAJ]

Sounds like a good idea to me.

My progression has been similar, Access 97 onwards, to SQL Server with
Access/VBA as a front end,to VB6 Front end with SQL Server backend etc..

all of which was pretty smooth for an older person like me who started
before OOPs became the in thing. I found the transition between Access and
SQL server pretty easy to make likewise VBA to VB6.

I then made the jump to .Net and c# (which nowadays I don't think is too
dissimilar to VB.Net) and found the change of thinking for this OOPS word
particularly hard and time consuming.

After two years I am becoming to become proficient but still not an expert
by any stretch. That said, after about 6 months my thoughts changed from
'everything is much more complicated, takes longer, why am I bothering?' to
'wow, isn't this good, my stuff is becoming much more professional and
stable'. I would now never go back.

Anyway, technically I would say your suggested route sounds fine (are you
making the front end web based ?) , it sounds sensible to me, just be aware
that the transition between sequential programming and OOPS requires a bit
of a different mindset.

hope it helps

Andy

 

[CAM]

Andy,

Thanks for the valuable professional input. Thats what I wanted to hear I
know VB.Net is going to be a task but well worth it. Thanks again for your
input.

Regards