Eric Barro
ebarro at verizon.net
Sun Mar 30 11:31:20 CDT 2008
Darryl, Try a hosted Sharepoint environment. 1. It comes with a pretty standardized web application user interface so you don't need to design a UI. 2. The back end is SQL server and on hosted solutions it comes as part of the deal. Which means that you don't need to deal with maintaining the back-end database. 3. It has integrated security with Windows Server 2003/2008 and should also come as part of the hosting package. Which means you don't have to deal with the OS configuration and maintenance. 4. You can customize the UI with the built-in web controls using drag and drop functionality via IE (doesn't work well with FireFox or Netscape...it is after all a Microsoft product!). You can add calendaring, discussion groups, document libraries, links, and they can even publish their Excel spreadsheets to a Sharepoint list and update that list from within Excel or the Sharepoint UI and have it synch up. 5. With the document libraries they can upload their docs (any type) to the Sharepoint site and share them that way. Eric -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Darryl Collins Sent: Sunday, March 30, 2008 3:14 AM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: [AccessD] Some Advice on Web Front end and ? backend Hi folks, My partner runs a business and wants me to whip up a database for her client data etc. (heh -dead easy right!). I originally put one together in Excel several years back which did the job, but hey, it's Excel and now the business is growing it really need to move to a better platform. I did a rebuild in Access late last year to see how it would all work, but I really am not sure Access is the way to go given her requirements - I just didn't know any better at the time, and I wanted to learn more about Access as well. Given she has 3 locations (clinic 1, clinic 2 and home) plus a numerous staff who work in a similar way I was thinking that using her website would be a good place to put the backend so it would easily accessable to all authorised people. I guess ideally she needs a server and WAN, but that isn't going to be happening soon. I was thinking something like a secure area via her URL that the staff can log into online and then access the forms, update the data etc would be pretty darn handy for her. Would SQL Express (or similar) at the back (and housed on the server) and maybe ASP.Net at the front for all the forms and GUI stuff be the best/correct approach though? I did build her current website, but I used frontpage (urrrgh) & HTML and it is all very 1994 in style and functionality!! (that said, both her and her clients like it as it is simple and easy to get around - go figure). My skills ASP.net and SQL Server almost zero at present - although the MS site provides some great training resources which I have skimmed over. If I take this path it is going to be a fun learning exercise I suspect. I have downloaded both ASP.net and SQL Express from MSoft, but haven't really had time to play around too much (oh - did i mention I have a 6 month old kid??!! hmmm...). Anyway, If you guys and gals have any suggestions, war stories, gotachas or general advice I would love to hear from you before I get too far down any one path. Definately open to ideas on this one. her current website is http://www.sprouttherapyservices.com.au/ for those who want a trip back in style time! ;) Many thanks Darryl. This email and any attachments may contain privileged and confidential information and are intended for the named addressee only. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender and delete this e-mail immediately. Any confidentiality, privilege or copyright is not waived or lost because this e-mail has been sent to you in error. It is your responsibility to check this e-mail and any attachments for viruses. No warranty is made that this material is free from computer virus or any other defect or error. Any loss/damage incurred by using this material is not the sender's responsibility. The sender's entire liability will be limited to resupplying the material. -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com