[AccessD] Regarding multi-value field, from a reader

 >"SQL Server is designed to make it easier for you to use your existing database infrastructure 
you've already created and extend the functionality of your application without having to 
significantly rewrite your code."

Of course this assumes that you didn't write any code to begin with.  Porting classes / events and 
all the framework stuff I did to the .Net framework... not for the faint of heart.

John W. Colby
Colby Consulting

Reality is what refuses to go away
when you do not believe in it

On 11/1/2012 4:47 PM, Jim Dettman wrote:
> Tina,
>
> <<but I'm thinking that until people learn to understand and
> follow a logic diagram they aren't going to succeed in assembling a
> "fully functional database" no matter how pretty Microsoft makes the
> user interface.>>
>
>   But the rub is, you won't be able to build an app the way we think of
> something as an "app".
>
>   The situation between back then and now is quite different.  Back then
> significant developer level features were being added (richer event model,
> VBA, ADP's, replication, etc).  You only need to look back at the Developers
> Handbook over the years.  With each new publication, it consumed more and
> more pages finally ending up as a two volume set of 2400 pages for Access
> 2000 as proof of that.
>
>   But now the focus has moved significantly towards the end user.  Everything
> that is complicated to any extent is being simplified (multi-value fields,
> attachments, sub datasheets, lookup in table design, etc) as much as
> possible and all the powerful features (like VBA) that allow you to do
> different things are being removed or restricted.
>
>   An Access web database is nothing more then simple CRUD operations and can
> easily be "fully functional" because there's not that much functionality
> there.  Macro's only allowed and you  should see the list of macro's that
> you can use; it's a very short list.
>
>    Since 2007, I have seen nothing significantly new added for developers.
> In fact the last major developer feature added was the printer object in
> A2003.  Some might argue that things like PDF output in 2007 was, but I see
> that as an end user feature (you can't control it programmatically at all).
> With things like the ribbon, it just makes our job that much more difficult.
> You loose too much screen real estate and programming ribbons with custom
> XML is a royal pain.  Now 2013 hammers that home by not allowing old style
> toolbars at all and you must use the ribbon.  I see that as a loss for
> developers.
>
>    Personally, the writing has been on the wall for quite some time.
> Microsoft is aiming Access to be squarely in the end user camp and much more
> so then they have in the past. I don't believe the Access as we know it (a
> product that can do way more then it was ever supposed to be able to do)
> will be around all that much longer.
>
>   One other quote from the section on converting ADP's:
>
> "Upgrade to the .NET Framework - Your application may be complex enough that
> to consider moving to a professional development platform such as the .NET
> Framework. SQL Server is designed to make it easier for you to use your
> existing database infrastructure you've already created and extend the
> functionality of your application without having to significantly rewrite
> your code."
>
> Jim.