VBA, VB, VB.Net, ASP.Net ?

[Rick in NS]

It has been suggested by several different sources a package written in
Access 2000 using VBA should be converted to something other than VBA;
perhpaps VB, VB.NET or ASP.Net

The suggestions appear to relate to deployment issues on other platforms
that will be encountered if the code is VBA. The learning curve with VBA has
been in excess of three years for me and I am not inclined to start working
with another language unless it appears to be the only reasonable option.

Anyone have a suggestion which language the code in an Access 2000
application should be re-written in to improve the chances of the application
working properly on other platforms?

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

It has been suggested by several different sources a package written in
Access 2000 using VBA should be converted to something other than VBA;
perhpaps VB, VB.NET or ASP.Net

Well, it depends on those sources, and it depends on where, or what
machine you want to deploy the software to.

For corporate development, the .net environment is a good choice.

The suggestions appear to relate to deployment issues on other platforms
that will be encountered if the code is VBA.

I can't say the use of VBA is more of a issue then is using .net for
example.

If you looking to have wide spread deployment of your application, you can
most certainly use the developers edition, and something like sagekey.

www.sagekey.com

Anyone have a suggestion which language the code in an Access 2000
application should be re-written in to improve the chances of the
application
working properly on other platforms?

Any language you like. However, Likely the best choice is the net
environment,
as that is really much the future direction.

However, what target audience you are looking to write software for will
VERY MUCH change the choice of your platform.

I been deploying ms-access applications all over the place for many years,
and I never had a problem because it was VBA. If you use good coding
practices, late binding for word/outlook automaton etc, then you can
build an appcation that is rock solid, and should have little deployment
problems.

 

[Rick in NS]

Albert:

Thanks for the response; very helpful. The application I have written is
pretty straight forward with intended users to place the back end on a local
server and the front end on each client's pc. The application runs well in
that configuration on the development network. So, I guess I should not be
trying to reinvent the wheel.

 

['69 Camaro]

Hi, Rick.

It has been suggested by several different sources a package written in
Access 2000 using VBA should be converted to something other than VBA;
perhpaps VB, VB.NET or ASP.Net

The suggestions appear to relate to deployment issues on other platforms
that will be encountered if the code is VBA.

Most of the time when IT professionals and organizational managers recommend
converting Access to another database application, if it's not due to
mission criticality, security or scalability issues, then it's either
because they have a misunderstanding of how good Access actually is for many
desktop database applications, or they want to sell their software
development services.

The learning curve with VBA has
been in excess of three years for me and I am not inclined to start
working
with another language unless it appears to be the only reasonable option.

It's unlikely the advisors recommending this conversion have invested the
same amount of time as you have mastering Access, so even if they aren't
confident that they (or others less skilled than you) could successfully
deploy an Access database application across the enterprise, you could do
so.

Anyone have a suggestion which language the code in an Access 2000
application should be re-written in to improve the chances of the
application
working properly on other platforms?

What other platforms does it need to be deployed on? If it's going to stay
a desktop application, then Access is fine for non-mission critical,
unsecure database applications where not too many concurrent users are
opening it.

If it's a Web platform, then ASP or ASP.Net can be used, but only if the Web
server is IIS on a Windows server. Even then, in most cases the back end
should be on a client/server database, such as Oracle, SQL Server, or MySQL,
not a desktop database, such as Access.

The majority of Web applications are using Linux, Apache, MySQL, and
PHP/Perl, due to low costs, high reliability, excellent security, good
speeds, and scalability. So if these advisors of yours are telling you to
trash Access in favor of "something better," then a Windows Web platform
probably isn't the answer they think they're recommending.

Access is a RAD tool for quick and easy -- and reasonably cheap --
development and deployment of database applications. The cost to replace
the Access version with a new version using any of those programming
languages probably isn't worth it.

HTH.
Gunny

See http://www.QBuilt.com for all your database needs.
See http://www.Access.QBuilt.com for Microsoft Access tips and tutorials.
Blog: http://DataDevilDog.BlogSpot.com
http://www.Access.QBuilt.com/html/expert_contributors2.html for contact
info.

 

[Rick in NS]

Hey 69 Camaro:

Great feedback. I feel reassured after reading your response the
application I have spent several years on is still worthwhile with the VBA
code. Actually, you appear to have focused on the motivation of not a few of
the proponents of another language; the suggested solution usually being
their favourite and the one they are prepared to offer conversion services
for.

Since I believe it will remain a desktop application with less than 25
concurrent users it seems all my effort has not been wasted. Thanks to you
and Albert for providing peace of mind.

Regards,

 

['69 Camaro]

You're welcome. Good luck with it. If worse comes to worst, and they
insist on converting it, then make the best of it and ask them to train you
in the new language. Having more than one programming language mastered
looks good on the resume.

Gunny

See http://www.QBuilt.com for all your database needs.
See http://www.Access.QBuilt.com for Microsoft Access tips and tutorials.
Blog: http://DataDevilDog.BlogSpot.com
http://www.Access.QBuilt.com/html/expert_contributors2.html for contact
info.