SOS! FE developed outside Access

[Guest]

Hello experts!

I would like to know your opinion about creating a FE just by coding using
VB/VC++/.NET...while still using *.mdb (JET database) as BE (thus, no form in
Access).

Here is a defintion of our DB needs in our department:
- mainly, upload of data from Oracle for history;
- filtering infos into tables;
- executing some queries;
- possible need for specific analysis using queries and more;
- for multi-users inside and outiside our department ;
- on the shared drive of our department;
- not available from our internal website;
- we are not the IT department but Inventory Control so we do not have
direct access on the servers, the website or Oracle...etc;
- security;
- reliability;
- performance in the execution of queries or when tables are filtered;
-user-friendly.

If you need more information to evaluate what would be the best option for
us, just ask me and I will be really please to give you more details.

 

[Sylvain Lafontaine]

Bad idea. MDB files are highly sensitive (corruption) to network glitches
and are also notoriously slow when used over a LAN, so there is no point of
keeping JET as the backend database if you don't want to use Access as the
frontend.

When using Access as the FE, you can set up a Citrix/TS configuration which
will protect you from both corruption and network' slowness but obviously,
this is not a solution for you.

 

[Guest]

Thanks a lot, you have help me a lot!

Bad idea. MDB files are highly sensitive (corruption) to network glitches
and are also notoriously slow when used over a LAN, so there is no point of
keeping JET as the backend database if you don't want to use Access as the
frontend.

When using Access as the FE, you can set up a Citrix/TS configuration which
will protect you from both corruption and network' slowness but obviously,
this is not a solution for you.

 

[Guest]

Hello Sylvain,

Just another question: if we create our DBs FE/BE using MsAccess, will it be
the best option between the only two available to us, I mean, MsAccess Tool
and only programming???

 

[Sylvain Lafontaine]

I'm sorry but I don't really understand your question.

However, if you know nothing about database programming and FE/BE, then you
should start with MS-Access as a learning tool because it's very easy to use
and to start with.

 

[Guest]

OK here are some more details...

Well, in my department, there is actually 2 programmers. One is very
familiar with MsAccess, has develop a well-done functional application with
it. The second one pretend knowing everything but even if that using forms
and reports in MsAccess is an intermediate notion, she has never used those.
We are actually reviewing the databases she has created. Even the base, I
mean the tables and queries are a mess. So, she claimed that she and the
other programmer (without consulting this one) will create a FE/BE
application in MsAccess without using forms - probably because as you know,
she has never used it - but just by coding into MsAccess modules. The other
programmer do not think it is a good idea and so am I. What do you think
about that?

Thanks.

 

[Sylvain Lafontaine]

The use of unbound forms might be a good idea or a bad idea but I don't know
because I don't know the overall picture behind your problem.

I won't pass any comment on your claim that the base she has created is a
mess: this might be true or it might be false. The fact that you don't
understand something or that the other programmer doesn't understand doesn't
mean by itself that this is a mess.

Obviously, you are asking for a professional advice on a competency matter;
I'm sorry but you won't find any real answer to this question on a
newsgroup. I cannot take responsability for this matter on your behalf.

 

[Guest]

Hello again,

You know, I was not asking you to evaluate if I was right or wrong when
saying the base of the developped DB is incorrect. I have been a Business
Analyst the last 10 years so I know how to conceptualise a DB and can say per
experience that our DB bases are wrong. I am not a programmer but have had
the chance to work with very good ones. Why I was commenting the work of this
programmer is because I know she is not competent and that her point of view
is not reliable. The other programmer is a good developper but she is new in
the company and has less weight regarding the direction for the moment. We
are not a computer department so just me and the other programmer could
challenge or evaluate the work of this person. So, I am cumulating
informations to assure my department to take good decisions.

My question do not need that much of a professional advice and is not that
complicated: I just want to know if this is possible to create a FE in
MsAccess without using "Forms" and with coding only. I already know what is
FE/BE, splitting,etc,etc. The reason why I want to know that is that I am
pretty sure that the coding will be heavier if we proceed without forms and
as a result the DB could be slower. That's all.

Thanks.

 

[Brendan Reynolds]

If you mean without *any* forms, not just without *bound* forms, then on the
face of it that does sound very strange. But we are hearing just one side of
the story here - the programmer in question does not have the opportunity to
put her side of the story, or to tell us if perhaps we may be
misunderstanding what she is suggesting. I would not like to draw any
conclusions on that basis. The only suggestion I can offer given the
information available is to go back to the programmer and ask for further
explanation.

 

[Rick Brandt]

Pascale Breton wrote:
[snip]

My question do not need that much of a professional advice and is not
that complicated: I just want to know if this is possible to create a
FE in MsAccess without using "Forms" and with coding only. I already
know what is FE/BE, splitting,etc,etc. The reason why I want to know
that is that I am pretty sure that the coding will be heavier if we
proceed without forms and as a result the DB could be slower. That's
all.

No. If you are using ONLY Access then you cannot create a data entry interface
without the use of forms unless you have people entering data directly into
queries and tables. I doubt very much that this is what the person in your
office is suggesting. If it is why don't you ask them to throw together a quick
single table demo?

 

[Sylvain Lafontaine]

Like the other two previous posters, I don't understand too what you mean
exactly with coding in Access without using any "Forms". My first thought
was to think about unbound forms but I see know that this was only a wild
guess.

 

[Tony Toews]

So, she claimed that she and the
other programmer (without consulting this one) will create a FE/BE
application in MsAccess without using forms - probably because as you know,
she has never used it - but just by coding into MsAccess modules. The other
programmer do not think it is a good idea and so am I. What do you think
about that?

Without using forms? This person is an idiot. How can you not use
forms in any programming environment to enter data? Be it VB, C++,
VB.Net, Delphi, Cobol, whatever? We had forms back in 1980 on an IBM
S/34 minicomputer with 48 kb RAM. Slightly different name and they
sure worked different but they were forms.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
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