JWColby
jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Mon Apr 30 16:08:25 CDT 2007
>It never becomes as effortless as Access code because ... So you are dooming me to a life of screaming and internet pain killers? 8~( John W. Colby Colby Consulting www.ColbyConsulting.com -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Charlotte Foust Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 4:55 PM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] Dot Net, where to start? In .Net, you ALWAYS have to think about what you're instructing the language to do. You can't rely on the default methods or properties the way we could in Access, so if you want to populate a textbox, you use the Value property. I've worked in it long enough so that I find it easier than Access in almost every way and when I go back to Access, I keep looking for things I can't find there! It never becomes as effortless as Access code because the object model is much vaster, and you don't have the advantage of DAO being optimized for the UI to save time and effort. We (like a lot of shops) use some 3rd party tools instead of the basic Windows controls and reports. The 3rd party tools are heavily enhanced versions of the built in stuff with far more control available to the programmer. If you think .Net looks intimidating, take a look at Infragistics controls and the levels of properties you have to work with! Charlotte Foust -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of JWColby Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 1:42 PM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] Dot Net, where to start? >I see the progress more as a migration process something like a 90 >degree turn not as a 180. And of course that depends on how much programming you do in VBA. The more you do, the harder it is in one sense and the easier in another. It is harder because you already get so much accomplished so quickly in VBA and can't believe how tough it is to get anything done in VB.Net (at first anyway). The easier it is in the sense that you are already an accomplished programmer and "only" have to come up to speed on the differences. If only there weren't so many damned differences!!! I am trying to take the contents of a text box and place it into a single variable. Uhh-Uhhhh! In VBA you would get an automatic conversion but in VBA it (apparently) tries to stuff a control type into a single type and complains vigorously. Now ya'd think that if there is a textbox.ToString method there would be a ToSingle method right? I'm back to screaming "just do what I WANT, NOT what I SAY!!!". My computer yells back, and it isn't something I can repeat in public. And of course, in X thousands of hours all that will be behind me and I will type VB.NET code the way I type VBA code now. Forgetting all the pain (that is the human mind for ya) I will wonder why I didn't convert years ago. In the meantime I have ordered massive quantities of painkillers from my favorite internet pharmacy using those spam emails I receive so many of every week. John W. Colby Colby Consulting www.ColbyConsulting.com -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Jim Lawrence Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 3:51 PM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] Dot Net, where to start? Hi All: My 2 cents on this is that most if not all developers on the Access List are working on or/and will be moving towards Dot Net at one point. I see the progress more as a migration process something like a 90 degree turn not as a 180. Jim -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Charlotte Foust Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 10:55 AM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] Dot Net, where to start? Does it belong in this list? Also, there are differences between VS 2003 and VS 2005 when it comes to creating typed datasets. Charlotte -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gustav Brock Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 5:01 AM To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com Subject: Re: [AccessD] Dot Net, where to start? Hi Charlotte Yes, that sounds like a learning experience. /gustav >>> kp at sdsonline.net 30-04-2007 04:31 >>> Charlotte - any chance of stepping us dot net newbies thru an example of what you mean? Kath ----- Original Message ----- From: Charlotte Foust To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2007 2:18 AM Subject: Re: [AccessD] Dot Net, where to start? The chapters on ADO.Net give a good overview of datasets, data providers and the actual relational objects (tables, views, etc.), and it also compares ADO.Net and ADO as well. But I haven't seen any books describing the data tier structures in the way we built them. Most of the books start with directly binding a form to a data adapter, and we work the other way around. We build data "entities" that implement typed datasets and expose the behaviors and methods we need. We can then drop one of those entities on a form or report to provide the data connections we need. The working code is actually in a dataprovider class with the entity containing calls to the dataprovider and even to other entities if need be. Our model has evolved as we developed the apps and figured out what worked, and we have "refactored" (a much overused work in our shop) the bits and pieces many times over the course of the past two years. Charlotte Foust -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com