[AccessD] FMS Article on the new features in Access 2007

John W Colby jwcolby at gmail.com
Fri Mar 20 06:50:35 CDT 2009


William,

That is a very good analysis of why.

One thing that William didn't mention is the tight integration with a 
database.  DblClick on a combo property and a visual query builder opens 
to allow you to build the query.  Saved queries and tables are right 
there is a tab, you can see them and just manipulate them at will, add 
fields to tables, add fields to queries, build new queries, build 
reports, wizards by the ton.  Access is probably the most RAD 
environment I have ever worked with for building DATABASE applications. 

It's major "flaw" is the language itself.  VBA, while powerful, is an 
interpreted language with a set functionality which is extremely limited 
in the built-in capabilities, ALTHOUGH the DAO object gives you 
programmatic control of every single object in Access.  Interpreted 
means slow.  Feature set is pretty much limited to database objects and 
controls - no built in objects for fancy collections, queues, stacks, 
ftp, etc.  Things built-in to .Net are impossible or require DLLs / OCXs 
for Access.

But... Access (for what it can do) is just drag and drop RAD.

John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com



William Hindman wrote:
> Mark
>
> ...my perspective
>
> ...its a completely different development environment ...vb/vba are NOT 
> vb.net, only the first two letters have anything beyond the bare surface in 
> common
> ...its true object inheritance with a huge framework and vast built-in 
> resources, it takes time just to grasp the essential concepts unless you've 
> done a lot of work
> in java or c++ before ...thus the learning curve to become truly productive 
> takes time ...I'm no where near that point yet and its been over a year now.
>
> ...none of your 3rd party or in-house tools will work so another investment 
> of time and money is required
>
> ...VS2008 is an immense resource and a delight to work in, at least it is 
> for me ...but if you're used to Access its going to take a while to 
> understand it
> ...Access makes things like combo boxes easily available ...just click and 
> configure ...VS makes the resources to build a thousand and more different 
> combo boxes
> available to the developer but you have to mostly build what you want from 
> the raw tools they give you or invest in a multitude of 3rd party tools
>
> ...it takes a LOT of time just to figure out what really works and what will 
> bite you in the ass just because so much is possible ...there are literally 
> almost no
> bounds to what you can build except for your own skills and imagination 
> ...if you're not highly disciplined, that in itself can bite you big time.
>
> ...I think of Access as the stock car division in drag racing ...you start 
> with an already built car and there are only certain things you can do with 
> it
> ...VS is the unlimited dragster division ...converting a stock car into a 
> competitive dragster isn't something the average street racer is going to do 
> overnight.
>
> ...did I mention I love using VS :)
> ...if I could switch every client to VS/SS overnight I'd do it in a 
> heartbeat ...but its their money and they already have an Access investment 
> and a solution that
>  does what they need so conversion is a slow process.
>
> William
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Mark Simms" <marksimms at verizon.net>
> Sent: Friday, March 20, 2009 2:18 AM
> To: "'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'" 
> <accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] FMS Article on the new features in Access 2007
>
>   
>> Re:"And, with the economy down and all my customers having gone 'quiet' 
>> this
>> is a good time to learn (.net)!"
>>
>> Unless VS2008 is "da bomb", why does everyone say that conversion of VB or
>> Access to .net is so expensive ?
>>
>>     
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
>>> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Dan Waters
>>> Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 10:59 PM
>>> To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving'
>>> Subject: Re: [AccessD] FMS Article on the new features in Access 2007
>>>
>>> I agree - I've already told my customers that I'll be moving
>>> to .Net in a year or so.  And, with the economy down and all
>>> my customers having gone 'quiet' this is a good time to learn!
>>>
>>> It makes sense for MS to move Access back to a user/power
>>> user tool.  Why have two development environments?  They've
>>> put lots of money into making VS work well (I like VS 2008).
>>> But I do remember that the first versions of VS were poor -
>>> all the developers were asking, "Why can't it work like Access?"
>>> And, with the economy down and all
>>> my customers having gone 'quiet' this is a good time to learn!
>>>
>>> But still, I know I can knock out stuff in Access pretty quickly now!
>>>
>>> Dan
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
>>> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of
>>> John W Colby
>>> Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009 7:40 PM
>>> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
>>> Subject: Re: [AccessD] FMS Article on the new features in Access 2007
>>>
>>>  >Now they are trying to reel it back in and move us to .net?
>>>
>>> I think tis is EXACTLY the case.  Microsoft has unilaterally
>>> decided that Access is for power users and .Net is for
>>> developers.  We don't get a vote.
>>>
>>> John W. Colby
>>> www.ColbyConsulting.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
>>
>>     
>
>   



More information about the AccessD mailing list