Migrating Access apps to Microsoft.NET...

[Soddy]

Hello!

Hopefully I got the right discussion group here...!

In using the SQL Server Migration Assistant for Access instructions, I have
completed the split Access 2003 database migration to the SQL Server 2005.
Under the 'Preparing Access Databases for Migration' part of these
instructions, it says "After you migrate databases to SQL Server 2005, you
can continue to use Access by using linked tables (understand this), or you
can manually migrate your applications to Microsoft.NET Framework-based code
that interacts directly with SQL Server". Not sure I'm understanding this
part...??

 

[Brendan Reynolds]

I don't wish to appear to give a 'flip' answer, but the statement does seem
to me to be self-explanatory. I'm not sure what the question is. Could you
perhaps expand a little on what additional information it is that you're
looking for?

 

[Nikos Yannacopoulos]

Soddy,

If I understand your question correctly, what this says is, once you
have migrated your data to SQL server, you can move away from Access
altogether - that is, for the front end also. For the latter, you can
develop a new one using a .Net language such as VB.Net, for example.

There are merits to this (such as higher portability / no need for full
Access or Access runtime, much better protection of your app against the
prying eye, no more FE corruptions or need for compaction etc), but
"migrate" is really the understatement of the year here... it actually
requires you to re-make the front end from scratch, in an environment
that is quite different to Access, and more time-consuming to develop
in, with no re-usability from the existing Access app. If you really
need the advantages of .Net over Access, be prepared to invest serious
time in (a) learning a new programming tool and (b) developing!

HTH,
Nikos

 

[Soddy]

Hello!

Brendan... Sorry for not a more pointed question... But Nikos answered what
I was looking for... So, thanks alot for the responses!

What is your opinion of, i.e. Visual Basic Express, etc, in this environment?

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

I think you'll find most of us feel Access makes a better front-end than
..Net applications.

 

[Soddy]

Hello!

Thanks for the info...!! And, so I'm interested in 'hearing' opinions on
why people feel that Access makes a better front-end than .NET (and because
I'm a Newbie, also i.e. Visual Basic/Visual C# Express, etc.)
applications...??

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

The controls available for forms in Access are explicitly intended to be
used with data being returned from databases. While there were some bound
controls available in VB, they weren't nearly as good, and so it took a lot
longer to develop applications using VB than Access. While the bound
controls available in .Net (which all the Express languages are) are better,
empirical experience shows that it's significantly faster to develop in
Access.

An additional benefit of Access is that it has very robust reporting
capabilities. Creating reports in .Net is a lot of work.

Hopefully others will pipe in with their experiences.

 

[Brendan Reynolds]

I think it is important to define the type of application we're discussing.
There are types of application for which Access is the best choice, and
there are types of application for which .NET is the best choice. How and by
whom the app will be developed is also a factor.

Access, in my opinion, remains the best choice for the type of application
for which Access has traditionally been used - a front-end Windows desktop
application to a database, running on a LAN, developed by a single
developer. .NET is a good choice for Web apps, for mobile apps, and for
distributed apps, and for development efforts in which the work must be
divided and coordinated among a large group of developers.

I'm not suggesting that Access can *only* be used in the conditions I
describe above. In between those two ends of the spectrum there is, of
course, a wide 'gray area' where the pros and cons have to be carefully
balanced and judgements made.

Whether you use VB.NET or C# or both for .NET development is mostly a matter
of personal preference. I personally prefer C#, but I'd have a hard time
trying to explain why. C# feels more 'elegant' to me, but there isn't
anything I need to do that couldn't be done in VB.NET.

 

[Soddy]

Hello!

Thanks alot for the info...! This 'is' very good help for me as I hear/read
a bit and it seems they have preferences but not necessarily for the
development environment!

I have worked a little bit with Access 97 and now am playing with Access
2003. If there are 'items' to watch out for (in upgrading to Access 2003
from Access 97), I would like to hear about some.