Convert Access application to .NET?

[aualias]

I have a small-medium sized Access application that is poorly written. My
choices are to either rewrite large parts of the Access app so that it
functions reasonably well, or to convert the whole thing to .NET.

Not being an Access developer, the .NET approach seems most natural, but I
want to do the right thing for the client (even if I end up giving away the
contract). I posted on the Access forum and got the impression that my
fears about Access being an unstable piece of junk were unfounded, and that
most of the things that need to be done in this type of application could be
done quickly and easily in Access and the rest could be coded as one would
do in any other environment (just have to give up the "free" things that
Access provides).

Does anyone have any experience with this type of conversion? I would be
interested in your thoughts.

Alfredo

 

[aualias]

Whoops!!!

Apologies. I was not paying attention and posted this to the wrong
newsgroup. Please ignore...

AU

 

[Larry Linson]

I can think of no possible advantage to converting an Access single-user,
multi-user, or client-server application to .NET. I guarantee you that it
will be more time and effort than to rebuild the application in Access to
well-implemented form.

The only situations in which I think this would be advantageous would be if
you were changing it to a web-based database to be accessed by users through
their browser or if you had a burning desire to learn .NET. I can't think
that the resulting application would have any more utility, better
performance, or ease of maintenance for your client, thus I think it would
be a bad idea. And, it does not seem from your post that you want the client
to finance your learning .NET -- that, by the way, is no trivial
undertaking.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

 

[aualias]

Larry,

I'm a C++ developer who is now primarily doing C#, so .NET is what I am
familiar with. I have done only a little Access programming, so the
learning curve is on the Access side. As I said, I posted to this forum by
mistake. I just wanted to get a feel for what the Windows Forms people
think.

That said, I'm pretty sure that Access is the way to go for this client. A
web application would be too clunky. Perhaps if they wanted to have a
Windows Forms front end and the backend on a web service it might be
reasonable to switch. That way all they would need is the client and an
internet connection.

Unless they have some strong needs to web enable the thing, Access seems to
be the way to go. I just want to cover all bases before I make a
recommendation.

Thanks.

AU