[dba-SQLServer] Arthur's article

Djabarov, Robert Robert.Djabarov at usaa.com
Thu Mar 11 08:44:10 CST 2004


Hey, a little hint about small windows and maybe wrong font, - you can
customize it to your needs and it will stay that way for every
view/procedure/function/trigger/etc.  And of course, I use it
occasionally, but it doesn't even fit 1% of the time compared to other
tools.  BTW, creating objects using EM is not a good idea, especially if
the desired result of the effort is a distributable product.



Robert Djabarov
SQL Server & UDB
Sr. SQL Server Administrator
Phone: (210)  913-3148
Pager: (210) 753-3148
9800 Fredericksburg Rd. San Antonio, TX  78288
www.usaa.com

-----Original Message-----
From: dba-sqlserver-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-sqlserver-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of
Francisco H Tapia
Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 5:18 PM
To: dba-sqlserver at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: Re: [dba-SQLServer] Arthur's article

Robert,
  I don't think I would ever mention Access ADP's as a tool of choice
for administration tasks, however, Access in and of itself is a really
neat tool in that you can create full featured front end systems which
natively hook into SQLServer giving the developer the choice of such
built in features such as NT authentication. Natively, no extra
programming required.

However, if you choose to use or not use EM, is all preferential.  In
fact for any Creation/Edit of Views/Sprocs and Functions, it's not an
ideal choice.  However for simple maintenance tasks such as table
design, Diagram (PK-FK) joins. It's extreamly easy and quick to use
versus typing out the entire contents in QA or some 3rd party tool which
still uses DMO or TSQL to do the exact same thing. Not to mention DTS
creation and management.  Sure this can be done w/ 3rd party tools or w/
even hooking to they DTS libraries but why write all that code when it's
all readily available in EM 2000.  I've used EM since 7.0 so no I don't
have long running history w/ previous versions,  but the 2000 version is
very neat and easy to use.  While there are things that are annoying
such as the small Sproc windows or un-smart view wizards, there is more
to a SQL Server than creating views and sprocs.


-- 
-Francisco


Djabarov, Robert wrote:

>I thought I would just ignore this discussion, but when I saw "seasoned
DBAs" reference, and I could not resist!
>
>First of all, seasoned DBAs would not use MS Access for database/server
administration purposes, NEVER!!!  Very rarely we use Enterprise
Manager, OK?  I have stopped using EM on a daily basis since 6.5,
needless to say in 7.0 or 2K environment.  How can a "seasoned DBA" even
mention MS Access as a tool of choice, unless he/she is not really ...
"seasoned"...???
>
>
>Robert Djabarov
>SQL Server & UDB
>Sr. SQL Server Administrator (SEASONED)
>Phone: (210)  913-3148
>Pager: (210) 753-3148
>9800 Fredericksburg Rd. San Antonio, TX  78288
>www.usaa.com
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: dba-sqlserver-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-sqlserver-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Steven
W. Erbach
>Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2004 3:43 PM
>To: dba-sqlserver at databaseadvisors.com
>Subject: Re: [dba-SQLServer] Arthur's article
>
>Francisco,
>
>  
>
>>>Are you kidding me?  Access 2003 is sans ADP's!!!! :O. <<
>>>      
>>>
>
>OK, let me in on the joke. How else am I supposed to interpret this
article by Arthur? (from builder.com newsletter, 9-Mar-2004):
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>Enhance Enterprise Manager with Access 
>
>Seasoned DBAs know that one of the best development environments
available is virtually free, and it blows away the classic SQL
Enterprise Manager. (Note: It's only free if you have a license for
Microsoft Office 2000 or XP; it doesn't work for Office 2003.) 
>
>Most companies that use SQL Server also use Office, and most of those
firms have licensed the version that includes Access. That means that
you can create a Microsoft Access project (ADP) file, which provides
direct hooks into SQL Server. 
>
>Once you create an ADP file, you can do almost everything that you can
from Enterprise Manager, including create tables, views, stored
procedures, and user-defined functions. You cannot create and execute
DTS packages, set up logins and roles, etc., because Access is not meant
to replace Enterprise Manager for these tasks. 
>
>Follow these steps to set up this tool (this only works in Access 2000
or Access XP): 
>
>1. Create an ADP that points to the SQL database of your choice. Make
sure that it connects successfully; this will depend upon several
factors, such as integrated or separate login. 
>
>2. Look at the database window in Access. If you're using Access 2000,
you'll see separate tabs for Queries and Stored Procedures. If you're
using Access 2002 (XP), these two tabs have been rolled into one. 
>
>3. Create a new stored procedure or view. You'll discover that you have
a wizard and a graphical environment in which you can drag and drop,
double-click various columns from various tables, automatically join
tables, and view what you're building as SQL rather than as a graphic.
This is especially useful when building constructs such as SELECT TOP 10
.... Nobody said that graphical interfaces could do everything, but the
beauty is that you can have it both ways. 
>
>4. Create either a scalar or a table function. 
>
>5. Follow the prompts and build something. Even if it's simple, it'll
help you get a feel for the tool. 
>
>Enterprise Manager is intended more for maintenance than for
development. Several other companies offer alternatives, but at a
substantial cost. Even if you can get a sign-off to license one of these
third-party products, you should investigate Access ADP files before
doing so. Chances are that you'll get almost all the functionality you
want--and virtually for free. 
>
>The real question is: Why did Microsoft kill ADP files in Access 2003?
Possibly because they were so good that they made Enterprise Manager
look foolish by comparison; or perhaps because Yukon is such a radical
change that it would demand a complete rewrite of the relevant code.
Your guess is as good as mine. 
>
>Arthur Fuller has been developing database applications for 20 years.
His experience includes Access ADPs, Microsoft SQL 2000, MySQL, and
.NET. 
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>Regards,
>
>Steve Erbach
>  
>


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