PDA, Mac and Access DB: All-in-one device suitable for every purpose

[Paul Boyer]

Hello!

I'm currently still using VB6, but I want to migrate to .NET because I
need to

1) support PDAs
2) support Mac
3) improve my personal skills

Currently I am using an Access database and ADO.

Can somebody give me a hint?
I am trying to make an application that can be run on Windows, Windows
PDA and Mac.

I think .NET can be run on Macs as well, at least I heard so.

I am trying to not make 3 different applications, so I would be very
happy if somebody give me a hint or a comment about my situation.

Thank you.
Paul

 

[Jason Keats]

Hello!

I'm currently still using VB6, but I want to migrate to .NET because I
need to

1) support PDAs
2) support Mac
3) improve my personal skills

Currently I am using an Access database and ADO.

Can somebody give me a hint?
I am trying to make an application that can be run on Windows, Windows
PDA and Mac.

I think .NET can be run on Macs as well, at least I heard so.

I am trying to not make 3 different applications, so I would be very
happy if somebody give me a hint or a comment about my situation.

Thank you.
Paul

Using Mono (http://www.mono-project.com/) you can certainly support
Linux and Windows.

PDAs are another matter. There are a large variety of PDAs, with many
different operating system(s). I'm guessing that you could run it on any
Windows or Linux based O/S, but I think you'll have problems with the
rest (unless virtualization takes off).

 

[Paul Boyer]

Thank you.

And do you also have any suggestion about the database question?

Paul

 

[Alex Clark]

Paul,

I recommend partitioning your application into at least 2 tiers - one with
the GUI (the .exe) and the other with the data-access code. The likelihood
is that you will have to change *some* parts of your app to run on the
different platforms, for example you wouldn't expect (or want) to use an
identical GUI on the mobile platform as you would on the desktop.

As for the database, as far as I'm aware Access DBs are supported on Windows
Mobile. To connect, you'll be using the ADO.NET class libraries. However,
I don't know enough about Mono to know what sort of support it has for MS
Access database files.

Are you storing large amounts of data? If not, an XML backing file *might*
fit the bill better than an Access DB, and would also likely be a bit more
cross-platform friendly.

Kind Regards,
Alex

 

[Jason Keats]

Thank you.

And do you also have any suggestion about the database question?

Paul

SQLite will run on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. I don't know about PDAs.

My advice, so far, was based on the idea that you wanted to write
self-contained/stand-alone application - that is, not a client-server or
web-based solution.

When, or if, the users of your application(s) need to share data then
you will probably move the bulk of your application to web services.

The client may then be a webpage (ASP.NET), a RIA (eg using Ajax,
Silverlight...), or a smart-client.

Of course, then things can get more complicated and more expensive.

 

[Paul Boyer]

No, it's not web-based. The database is only used to store large amounts
of user data.

Paul

 

[Paul Boyer]

My data is too huge to store it in an XML file. And I need to do fast
queries on it.

Paul

 

[Clive Lumb]

Hello!

I'm currently still using VB6, but I want to migrate to .NET because I
need to

1) support PDAs
2) support Mac
3) improve my personal skills

Currently I am using an Access database and ADO.

Can somebody give me a hint?
I am trying to make an application that can be run on Windows, Windows PDA
and Mac.

I think .NET can be run on Macs as well, at least I heard so.

I am trying to not make 3 different applications, so I would be very happy
if somebody give me a hint or a comment about my situation.

Thank you.
Paul

If you want to be totally cross-platform maybe you should be looking at
Java?