Shortcut to Access Database?

[Mr. JYC]

Hello,

Is it possible to store an Access database on a share, create a shortcut,
distribute that shortcut to a workgroup, and have multiple users access the
database through the shortcut? I had tried that but it seems that the
database opens for one person at a time. I want it to open simulatenously
for multiple users. Would it make a difference if the database was stored on
a Linux share?

 

[Tom van Stiphout]

On Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:57:01 -0700, Mr. JYC

I don't know about the Linux share; I think that will be problematic.
You MUST be able to access the file with a mapped drive letter, or
using \\servername\sharename .
That said, this is a REALLY BAD idea. Per best practices every user
should have a copy of the front-end on his/her own computer, and that
copy is linked to the single back-end on the server. There are tools
such as Tony Toews updater to keep everyone on the same version.

-Tom.
Microsoft Access MVP

 

[Larry Linson]

Bad idea to put your database on the network
where all users can try to open the database
simultaneously! The proper setup for a multi-
user database is to first split the database into
a backend (just the tables) and a frontend
(everything else) and give each user his own
copy of the frontend.

I'm sure Steve just made a typographical error and intended, instead of
"backend (just the tables)" to write "backend (just the tables and
relationships)" because I am certain that he knows Jet, ACE, and server DB
relationships must be defined in the database where the tables reside.

On the other hand, some of us occasionally find it useful to have a few
other objects in the backend, just for use when it is needful to log in to
that database directly to modify or maintain it. And, rather than take a
chance on misleading inexperienced newsgroup posters sometimes we just
ignore that -- but those are not "production" objects, they are just
"maintenance conveniences".

Larry Linson
Microsoft Office Access MVP

 

[John W. Vinson]

Hello,

Is it possible to store an Access database on a share, create a shortcut,
distribute that shortcut to a workgroup, and have multiple users access the
database through the shortcut? I had tried that but it seems that the
database opens for one person at a time. I want it to open simulatenously
for multiple users. Would it make a difference if the database was stored on
a Linux share?

As Tom and Steve say... don't do it this way. You can put the shared backend
(tables only!!) on a share, but each user should have their own private copy
of the frontend. For details see

http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/splitapp.htm

I have not tried using a linux shared drive, but I've certainly read comments
here indicating that it has some serious problems.

 

[Armen Stein]

I have not tried using a linux shared drive, but I've certainly read comments
here indicating that it has some serious problems.

Last time I tried it with Unix (actually a client tried it without
telling me) it was such a painful experience (repeated unrecoverable
corruption) that I never tried it again. Unix just didn't handle the
record locking scheme at the file system level. I don't see why Linux
would either.

Armen Stein
Microsoft Access MVP
www.JStreetTech.com

 

[John... Visio MVP]

Now can you show the same couresty and refrain from harrassing the posters
for work?

John... Visio MVP

 

[James A. Fortune]

On Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:57:01 -0700, Mr. JYC

I don't know about the Linux share; I think that will be problematic.
You MUST be able to access the file with a mapped drive letter, or
using \\servername\sharename .
That said, this is a REALLY BAD idea. Per best practices every user
should have a copy of the front-end on his/her own computer, and that
copy is linked to the single back-end on the server. There are tools
such as Tony Toews updater to keep everyone on the same version.

-Tom.
Microsoft Access MVP

I agree with Tom. I had tremendous success with earlier versions of
Access where the backend resided on a Linux machine using Samba, but I
suspect that even such a stable environment is not enough to prevent the
corruption problems you can get by not splitting the database. The
files on the Linux machine can be mapped with a letter drive or given a
share name, just as if they resided on a Windows Server. My users could
not tell that Linux was involved at all, except to note how much faster
everything worked. I have not tried that setup recently so I can't
speak for recent versions of Access. Definitely try splitting the
database first. Also, if you go with Linux, you are basically on your
own I believe, Microsoft support-wise, if you run into problems.

James A. Fortune
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

Is it possible to store an Access database on a share, create a shortcut,
distribute that shortcut to a workgroup, and have multiple users access the
database through the shortcut? I had tried that but it seems that the
database opens for one person at a time. I want it to open simulatenously
for multiple users. Would it make a difference if the database was stored on
a Linux share?

I specifically created the Auto FE Updater utility so that I could
make changes to the FE MDE as often as I wanted and be quite confident
that the next time someone went to run the app that it would pull in
the latest version. For more info on the errors or the Auto FE
Updater utility see the free Auto FE Updater utility at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/autofe.htm at my website to keep the
FE on each PC up to date.

Tony