Split 2003 to 2007 should I convert

[Ginger Kohler]

I designed a large database in 2000 which is split and secure. I was easily
able to convert it to 2003 when our office upgraded. No everyone but me is
running 2007. I can't figure out how to turn my 2003 database into a 2007.
In a year, we will be switching to a different program. Is it worth it to
even bother trying to switch? If I don't, will I be stuck with 2003 so that
I can make changes to the database?

 

[a a r o n _ k e m p f]

if you have a large database, you should be using SQL Server.
Access Data Projects would work great for what yoiu're trying to do.

Jet craps out when it hits a half dozen users or 25 mb of data.

 

[Ginger Kohler]

That's why we are going to a different program in a year. This started out
small to compensate for a Facilities program that didn't have fields to cover
our needs. I'll be a year before our department is switched to the new one,
because other departments are going to be converted first.

In the mean time, what do I do with this one? Should I convert to 2007? If
yes, how? Should I run Access 2003 and 2007 on my computer?

 

[Ken Sheridan]

I'm afraid you are unlikely to get any help from Aaron on this. He's well
known here for his obsessive and irrational promotion of SQL Server as the
only relational database product worthy of consideration.

If your current application works under Access 2007 and will satisfy your
business requirements until you move to another DBMS then there is probably
little point in converting it. There should be no need to have both Access
2003 and 2007 installed. I note that you your database is 'secure', by which
I assume that you have implemented user and group security. I don't use
Access 2007 myself, but I am aware that it does not include user and group
security. However, applications written in earlier versions can, as I
understand it, still be opened under 2007 with user and group security in
place. The link below to another current thread may be of help:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...7d2-030746c4583f&cat=&lang=en&cr=US&sloc=&p=1


If you wish to use the application under both 2003 and 2007 on different
machines one thing you should not do is convert the back end file to 2007.
The rule of thumb is to keep the back end in the earliest version being used
on local machines, even if the individual front ends are converted to
whichever later version of Access is used on a local machine.

When you switch to whatever DBMS you'll be using in a year's time the
important thing is that the data is portable to the new system. This should
not be a problem, though even if the new system uses the same tables there
may be minor changes you'll need to make. If, for instance, you have used
spaces in table and column names you might have to change these if whatever
you'll be using doesn't support them, e.g. by replacing the spaces with
underscore characters, or by changing the names to CamelCase or camelCase,
(Last_Name, LastName or lastName for example in place of Last Name). It may
be of course that the new system will require the data in different tables to
those in your current application, but provided both the old and new tables
are properly normalized and correctly model the underlying reality then that
again should not be a major problem. I'm using one database which is now in
its fourth reincarnation, with different logical models having been used over
a 20 year period, originally in SuperFile, then in dBASE and now in Access.
Moving and recasting the data each time has not been a big problem.

Ken Sheridan
Stafford, England

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

I designed a large database in 2000 which is split and secure. I was easily
able to convert it to 2003 when our office upgraded. No everyone but me is
running 2007. I can't figure out how to turn my 2003 database into a 2007.
In a year, we will be switching to a different program. Is it worth it to
even bother trying to switch? If I don't, will I be stuck with 2003 so that
I can make changes to the database?

You can continue to use A2003 and distribute an A2003 MDB/MDE to your
A2007 users without significant problems. There will likely be some
small items you'll come across. Allen Browne has a good page on his
website on this topic.

That said if you want to continue developing in A2007 then you should
just convert it to A2007 version of FE MDB and continue working.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

 

[Larry Linson]

That's why we are going to a different program
in a year. This started out small to compensate
for a Facilities program that didn't have fields
to cover our needs. I'll be a year before our
department is switched to the new one, because
other departments are going to be converted first.

If you are going to a different program in a year because you think that
"Jet craps out when it hits a half dozen users or 25 mb of data", then you
are just as wrong in your thinking as Mr. Kempf is. Neither statement is
true.

Many have labeled Mr. Kempf as a troll. It is certainly true that he is so
obsessed with SQL Server and Access ADPs that he recommends them for just
about every user's problems, regardless of whether they have any connection
or not. It is also certainly true that Mr. Kempf is vastly more often wrong
than right when he claims shortcomings for Jet.

In the mean time, what do I do with this one?
Should I convert to 2007? If yes, how? Should
I run Access 2003 and 2007 on my computer?

Have you tried running your Access 2003 database under Access 2007? Chances
are, you will be pleasantly surprised. In fact, many find that their Access
2003 databases run just-fine-thankee even under the (freely downloadable)
Access 2007 runtime.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Office Access MVP