[AccessD] Access 2007 and ADPs

ADPs are interesting and important to many of our customers. We are committed to making sure they continue to work. You can download beta 2 today and use the ADP visual designers (Tables, Views, Stored Procedures, and Functions) with SQL Server 2005 objects just as you would have used Access 2003 and SQL Server 2000. 

The two weaknesses of ADPs that likely won't be fixed because of the underlying architecture include the inability to link to external data sources (without setting up linked servers) and local queries. Combining adhoc heterogeneous data sources is a big part of Access functionality that is used heavily by most customers. The Access team is making a big investment in using the Access Dara Engine as the way to get to external data sources. I expect that to continue in the future. 

For new SQL Server projects where you are evaluating which platform to start from, we recommend MDBs or ACCDBs with linked tables because they offer more flexibility and that is likely where the Access team will invest the most when building new features. 

We have also found that applications that are upsized from mdb back-end tables to SQL Server link tables require far less application changes than upsizing to ADPs. The upsizing wizard defaults have been changed from upsizing to ADPs to move the data to SQL Server and replace local tables with link tables. In other words, the upsizing wizard will not default to ADPs. 
 
Martin WP Reid
Training and Assessment Unit
Riddle Hall
Belfast
 
tel: 02890 974477