asking advice in comparing ADP to VB application

[belgie]

What are the advantages and disadvantages of developing a client-server
desktop application using Access ADP project as compared to a VB 6 or .NET
desktop application in a multi-user environment?

Is locking an issue with an Access project, for example? I mean, is ADP
more subject to deadlocking?

I am trying to make some solution architecture decisions, and I don't have
much experience with ADP.

Thanks!
Bill

 

[Daran Johnson]

Bill,

First, an Access ADP does not have a data engine. It is designed to connect
to a SQL Server database server. Locking is no more an issue than a VB or
..Net application.

The pros to an Access ADP are that it is the easiest and fastest to develop
an applcation in. It also has a built in report designer. The cons are
that unless you are planning on using the Access Runtime engine - everyone
will have to have thier own Access.exe program on their machine to run the
ADP. Also, there may be different or missing dlls, Visual Source Safe is
not very effective, distribution is not the easiest, etc.

The problem you may run into with .Net is that not everyone has the .Net
framework intalled. There is obvoiusly more flexiblity when designing with
..Net or VB 6. .Net will certainly give you the greatest flexablity.

However, the most important thing here is the design of the database. If
you are planning to create a solution that does not include an existing
database then that is where I would focus my attention. It is much easier
to re-develop a front-end then it is to re-architect the design of the
database.

-Daran

 

[Vadim Rapp]

b> Is locking an issue with an Access project, for
b> example? I mean, is ADP more subject to
b> deadlocking?

There can't be deadlocking because there are almost no locks. ADP with bound
forms is working exclusively on client-side cursors, which means no locks
and no transactions. Bound form downloads the data, then the user works with
it without any locks in the database, then the data is uploaded back onto
server. The locks are established at the time of downloading and uploading,
but not while the user is working with the data; since the data of one
record is usually small, the locks are there for a tiny fraction of second,
so deadlocking is practically impossible.

Since you mentioned vb.net, you should be aware that ado.net is actually
working in the same fashion, i.e. client-only cursors, no locks, no
transactions. It's all targeted at the internet solutions with their
stateless connections.


Vadim