Upgrading/ Starting from Scratch with a MsAccess Database

[bg_ie]

Hi,

My company is working with a ms access db to store test results. Its
used by about 10 people and seems to me to have been stuck together by
students over the years - its very buggy. It comes with the usual GUIs
but there seems to be a lot of vb code used as part of these forms
which makes it very difficult to see whats going on.

I'd like to overhaul it completely but am unsure which route to take.
First of all, what alternatives to Access would be suitable for such
an application?

I am a C# programmer and I have worked with Access for a few years
before, but that was 5 years ago and I'm unsure what the alternatives
are today.

I'm not a fan of VBA so I'm wondering if it is possible to program
Access using C# .net instead. If so, what version of Access allow
this.

Thanks,

Barry

 

[Stefan Hoffmann]

hi Barry,

I'd like to overhaul it completely but am unsure which route to take.
First of all, what alternatives to Access would be suitable for such
an application?

You need to decide where to store your data. Should it be Access/Jet or
some kind of server, e.g. SQL Server (Express).

This decision depends on some questions:

- How many users?
- How many data rows (Jet can only handle 2GB of data per database)?
- Rights management needed?
- How would you like to backup your data?

You should also take the existing database schema and derive the E-R
from it.

Compile a list of requirements with your users. You can use the E-R to
discuss it with them, it's easier to understand than a database schema.

This will show you weaknesses in the model and/or implementation of your
Access application.

I'm not a fan of VBA so I'm wondering if it is possible to program
Access using C# .net instead. If so, what version of Access allow
this.

When using Jet as data storage, you can program native C# in your VS.


mfG
--> stefan <--