Synchronization, SQL Server, DataAccess Pages?

[Tim J]

I have a project tracking access app. It needs to be
distributed among 25 remote users. For them to Have a
front end and access the data @ a central location they
would have to vpn which is obviously a very painfull
experience.

I wonder what is the recomended design, option for what I
need. Is synchronization still as high maintenance in
access 2002 as it was in 2000 (Data Conflicts)?

How much time, effort, challenges can i expect in
transfering from forms to data access pages?

I need a fast, cheap, reliable solution.

What would you recomend?

TIA,
TimJ

 

[Sylvain Lafontaine]

At first sight, my suggestion would be to replace Access as the backend with
MSDE or SQL-Server. However, there are many parameters that you need to
consider for a remote application before making your final choice.

With DAP, you'll still have to keep the use of the VPN if you want to keep
Access as the backend (or install RDS, which is a security hog). If you
want to replace the VPN and keep the Access' backend, DAP is not the
solution.

Like you, I'm always in the search of a fast, cheap and reliable solution.

S. L.

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

I have a project tracking access app. It needs to be
distributed among 25 remote users. For them to Have a
front end and access the data @ a central location they
would have to vpn which is obviously a very painfull
experience.

I guess you have to define "remote", but if mean they are not on your cheap,
high speed lan, and you are talking about a wan, then you can read the
following solutions to your problem here:

http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal//Wan/Wans.html

I wonder what is the recomended design, option for what I
need. Is synchronization still as high maintenance in
access 2002 as it was in 2000 (Data Conflicts)?

I don't know what you mean by above in terms of high maintenance? Compared
to what? You mean synchronization is more, or less of a problem if you
develop your application in c++, or VB, or Delphi, or perhaps vb.net? Why is
synchronization more or less of a problem the aft mentioned development
platforms? Pleas explain on what you mean by synchronization here?

Also, what exactly do you mean by data conflicts here? You might want
explain, and again expand on what you mean here? while the old access97 used
page locking for records, the last 3 versions (include a2000) now use record
locking. Again, not sure what you mean, but you might want to explain the
problem(s) you are experience here..or again exactly you mean here.

How much time, effort, challenges can i expect in
transfering from forms to data access pages?

You have to be careful using dap's in ms-access. While you can use a
standard web server, and thus don't have to install any software on the
client (when you make changes to the application), those end users still
have to
have a licensed copy of ms-access/office.

When you say 25 users.....is this at the same time as a general rule?

I need a fast, cheap, reliable solution.

I think if you are to go the web approach, then dup the idea of dap
pages...and just write your application as a web based system (that is the
cheapest approach).

What would you recomend?

If I was in a hurry, and the ms-access application was complex, then if I
had
the budgets...I would use Terminal Services...