[AccessD] AXP Question

Roz Clarke roz.clarke at donnslaw.co.uk
Mon Jun 9 04:07:38 CDT 2003


This makes perfect sense if writing an application that doesn't have to get
changed by the users. But consider this scenario:

We are building a front end for a data warehousing application (data on SQL
Server 7). We need the front end to be flexible as it must provide
equivalent functionality to 4 Access databases currently in use, each
holding anywhere from 4 - 40 forms and around 100 reports, which are updated
& maintained solely by IT (a v. bad thing - we are committed to getting
involved every time they want to change the layout of a report, and it
causes an overnight delay as we can only write changes into the live
database between 12 midnight and 6am. This has the users hopping mad and has
resulted in the company failing to meet SLAs with client companies). We have
been running AXP for 6 months and they have still not come to terms with the
delays.

In A97 I would have made the forms & reports flexible by allowing users to
a) make temporary changes to objects at runtime, replacing these at the end
of the session, and b) copy report objects and make their own changes to the
new report. Now I can't.

We can't provide each user with their own FE to hold even temporary changes
as we are on terminal server. 

I'm starting to think that Access has become the wrong tool for the job. Any
suggestions?

Roz

-----Original Message-----
From: Wortz, Charles [mailto:CWortz at tea.state.tx.us] 
Sent: 06 June 2003 17:52
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: RE: [AccessD] AXP Question


Brett,

You partition the app and have each developer work on their db.  Then if the
dbs need to be reunited you have a senior developer recombine them. You are
using a configuration management and/or version control tool, are you not?

Charles Wortz
Software Development Division
Texas Education Agency
1701 N. Congress Ave
Austin, TX 78701-1494
512-463-9493
CWortz at tea.state.tx.us



-----Original Message-----
From: Brett Barabash [mailto:BBarabash at TappeConstruction.com] 
Sent: Friday 2003 Jun 06 11:10
To: 'accessd at databaseadvisors.com'
Subject: RE: [AccessD] AXP Question

What about environments like ours where you have multiple developers
developing in the same development MDB?  It was fairly trivial to do this
with older versions of Access.


-----Original Message-----
From: Wortz, Charles [mailto:CWortz at tea.state.tx.us]
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 11:00 AM
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: RE: [AccessD] AXP Question


As I said in another post, since the dark ages of computing, professional
developers have a development version of the application they work on, and
the users use a production version of the application. When you are ready to
move the development version to production, you follow a set procedure to
replace the old production version with the new production version.  Only in
dire emergencies should a developer have to tinker with the actual
production version.  And even then, all the users should be out of the
application.

All the above applies whether the application is in Access, VB, Cobol,
SQLServer, VFP, Oracle, etc.  I doubt that you can find any software
development shop that has been in business for a few years that doesn't
follow this model.  If you have been developing software for a while, I am
sure you follow this model (at least informally) just to keep your sanity.

Charles Wortz

-----Original Message-----
From: Charlotte Foust [mailto:cfoust at infostatsystems.com] 
Sent: Friday 2003 Jun 06 10:45
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: RE: [AccessD] AXP Question

Not unwanted by everyone.  I'm perfectly happy with that change.

Charlotte Foust

-----Original Message-----
From: ACTEBS [mailto:actebs at actebs.com.au] 
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2003 7:24 AM
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: RE: [AccessD] AXP Question


Terri,

Charles just alerted me to the fact that since the release of A2K, if you
use the Shift key to bypass the normal startup, you are opening the DB
exclusively. A new unwanted feature kindly supplied by M$...

Vlad

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Terri Jarus
Sent: Friday, 6 June 2003 10:27 PM
To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com
Subject: [AccessD] AXP Question


I have upgraded a FE database from A97 to AXP successfully,  however, a
major difference that is annoying me is the fact that in a multiuser
environment, I am unable to make changes to the design unless I open
exclusively.

I never had this problem in A97 and now that my users are all getting
upgraded to the AXP FE, I am running across a few areas that need to be
tweaked and can't do it until everyone is out of the db.  This is a shared
network FE.

I should probably give everyone their own copy on their desktop, however,
this database has evolved greatly over the past 3 years and has required
many changes.  I have always been able to make these changes while the db
was being used by others with no problem.  There are about 20 users - so
upgrading everyone's FE would be very tedious.

I know there are some automated programs to do the updating, but one I had
tried took too long and was cumbersome to the user.

Any suggestions or ideas - is there a setting I'm missing that would allow
design changes while in use???

Thanks for any help. _______________________________________________
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