[AccessD] Access and SQL Server

jwcolby jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Mon Feb 28 11:46:38 CST 2011


 > Are any of your developing full blown ACCESS/SQL Server applications for clients?

I am just beginning to do this.  I have three applications that need to access data from the internet.

Real (old) men use SQL Server and HTML, written in notepad.  I am not a real man.  Though I am old!  ;)

Real young men use SQL Server and C#.  I aspire to be young (again).  Physiologically, that ain't 
happening.  I am learning a ton of C# and SQL server stuff but I am not yet to the point of doing 
full on database applications in C#.

Given the above, while I aspire to C# there is a lot to learn before I am going to write an app in 
C# which I have to maintain (and write reports for).  Someday but not this month.

This month I hope to actually place in production two Access applications, both running under a 
runtime environment, which Access a SQL Server database over the web.

 >If so what type of an app is it?

One app is a time sheet / reporting application for a non-profit.  This organization has a handful 
of part time employees who meet with parents of children with disabilities.  The purpose is to 
provide information about resources available to the parents.

So individuals go to people's homes, discuss their child's disabilities and provide the parents 
referrals to organizations which can actually assist the parent in dealing with the disabilities.

These employees need to document every visit.  They have to enter very basic name/address info for 
the parents, and then enter some records child to that parent info with referrals, literature etc. 
These employees will enter their time sheets from their homes or a local wi-fi hot-spot from their 
laptop.

Management of this non-profit will then run reports about what work was done by the organization. 
The organization has to report to the money guys (grants) and to the IRS IIRC.

 >If so what type of an app is it?

The next application I am developing is a volunteer database for the local prison.  They do various 
training programs and need to maintain a list of volunteers, a list of projects, which volunteers 
are working on which projects, and the date/times of the project meetings.  Stuff like that.  They 
will have a couple of people actively maintaining the database - adding / deleting / updating 
records.  There will be a handful of people just looking at reports.

The people using the database will access it from their home computer or laptop from a wi-fi 
hot-spot..

 >If so what type of an app is it?

And finally (for now) I go into the prison for various reasons.  Some volunteers may check certain 
inmates out.  In order to do so I have to fill out a specific piece of paper for each inmate I am 
checking out, every time I want to check that inmate out.  The paper lists my name / address, the 
prisoner's ID number, and a list of exact places and start / stop  date / times where I will be 
taking the prisoner.  I can take them to church, or to an AA meeting, or a restaurant etc.  There is 
space on the form for three locations / dates / times.

So the next application allows me to maintain a list of inmates that I might routinely check out, a 
list of locations (addresses) and allow me to fill out this paperwork with a few mouse clicks and 
then turn that into a PDF and fax it off to the prison.

ATM it will be only me using it, but if it is actually faster than manually filling in the paper and 
faxing it, then other volunteers who check out prisoners may want to use it.


So there you have my three ACTIVE Access / SQL Server projects.  Each of these is being designed 
from scratch to:

1) Use SQL Server for the data store.
2) Use Hamachi VPN to get at the SQL Server
3) Use a runtime

And because of the first two above, to be usable over the internet.

John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com

On 2/28/2011 7:56 AM, Tony Septav wrote:
> Hey All
> Thanks
> I have got to try out Stuart suggestion for updating stored procedures in SQL Server using ACCESS.
> I am not finding any significant differences in speed when using ACCESS tables and queries versus
> SQL Server tables and pass through queries, I assume that is because I am doing my testing on my
> local machine and not on a network (or Web).
>
> Are any of your developing full blown ACCESS/SQL Server applications for clients? If so what type of
> an app is it?



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