[AccessD] OT: Linux, Open Suite and Access

Rocky,

>> Does anyone know anything about porting an Access app to OpenSuite?

Actually, I've been looking at OpenOffice, and its data component, Base.


The Base application window looks something like the Access window
(table, query, form and report designers). But the forms and reports
aren't native objects, in the Access sense. These are handled as XML
forms, and are hosted by Writer, Open Office's Word equivalent. 

There is broad scripting support: OpenOffice Basic, JavaScript and
Python are supported. OpenOffice Basic looks a lot like VBA:

http://api.openoffice.org/DevelopersGuide/DevelopersGuide.html

Base uses HSQLDB ( http://hsqldb.org/ ) as its native backend. Let's
just say it is very different from Jet. It seems to enjoy a good
reputation, though. 

My initial reaction to Base: it is still very new, and not likely to
support a sophisticated application like EZ-MRP without a lot of
bleeding-edge development. You can easily link to Jet backend tables,
but you would have to rebuild the front-end from scratch (all queries,
forms, reports, underlying code, etc...)

Base looks promising, and I've been impressed with the Writer program,
and how well it interoperates with Word document files. Base is worthy
of looking at and experimenting with, but I feel it would be far from an
easy task to migrate a full-blown Access app to Base at its current
stage of development.

-Ken

PS: Check out Koffice, another open source alternative to OpenOffice: 

http://www.koffice.org/

It has its own data component, Kexi: 

http://www.koffice.org/kexi/

My guess is that Kexi is not nearly as far along as Base is, but I will
be checking it out, too, in the near future.