Hi guys,

i have a client which is a doctor and i am designing a database for him. Ideally he wants to put the database on the secretary's pc and also on his ipad so that when he exams he can enter the values of the patient in the database.

any ideas on how i can achieve this?

thank you

Watch out it's an iPad - Steve Job's will be after you :p

The major problem you'll have is keeping them synced, you can't run Access on a MAC but theoretically you can use an emulator or maybe Filemaker Go (Apples iPad DB software) and a 'migrator' that can convert Access DB's to Filemaker but again keeping them in sync is going to be tricky, without trying I couldn't say how difficult.

Again you could run an emulator like Parallels (http://www.parallels.com/uk/products/desktop/) but I think it only supports OS X rather than on the iPad O/S which is essentially the same as the iPhones. Oh and even if you try this option you will need a new legal version of Windows and Access to do it.

and sadly the easiest way, using Open Office, I don't think will work as above only available on OS X.

I'm not an Apple drone :p but I guess your only option is to have a look in the app store to see if there is anything that will work (unless anyone else has any ideas?).

Or he could just buy a tablet PC - problem solved ;):D

Minkey is far more knowledgable about this type of thing than I am, so I'm just throwing out a thought. I know there's a remote desktop app for the iPhone, so if the iPad has a similar OS, maybe it would also be available for the iPad. That might let him remote to his own PC which would be running the Access app (presuming he has a PC available).

I'd say your only option is remote desktop.

Keep in mind, though, that certain things are different on iPad. For instance, one of the main reasons Flash movies cannot be ported to iPad is that so many of the Flash movie players depend on hover for revealing the player controls. Multi-touch devices have no HOVER, so those players couldn't be used even if Flash *were* ported to iPad (which it never will be).

If your Access app uses any featuers that depend on HOVER, you'll be out of luck on iPad.

Personally, I've always thought HOVER effects were mostly cosmetic and useless, but I'm a Luddite curmudgeon.

I would think that an Access app used by a secretary on a computer would need to have its entire interface redesigned to be used on a touch-screen device, both in behavior and organization, but also in terms of sizing of controls onscreen and so forth. It's not that it's a new thing to create an Access app for use with a touch-screen device, it's just that, in general, such apps are used entirely with that type of interface and not in both places.

In general, I'd say an iPad is not a good choice for this.

Windows Tablet PC would be much better suited for the process.

Yep, just another reason not to own an Ipad and to buy a much cheaper netbook. :D

I know there's a remote desktop app for the iPhone, so if the iPad has a similar OS, maybe it would also be available for the iPad. That might let him remote to his own PC which would be running the Access app (presuming he has a PC available).

That's a good idea but slightly amusingly he'll still have to have a Windows PC to make it work maybe sync with his secretary <oh err missus/> :p

Well, I operated on the assumption (never a good idea) that there was a network involved, in which case no sync would be necessary (both would be looking at the same data).

"V" is one of my favorite movies, if I haven't said it before.

thank you for your responses guys

yeah i think a tablet pc would be the best option (for both :) )

any specific models that you know ??? i only worked on ipad before

pbaldy - yeah its gonna be a network involved in this situation

Juddadredd - thank you for your suggestions. I actually haven't thought that i would need to redesign anything to work on a touch screen and i actually have no idea how to do that.

so im either gonna find a solution for that or tell him to buy a second pc and make my life way much easier.

redesign the database of course means more $$$

For clever lads you lot don't know how to work your way around a problem that you don't already know the solution to...


Your attitude no doubt takes you a long way in this world. For most people they would be telling you to go as far away as possible.:rolleyes:

You really think nobody here is aware of web interfaces to databases? All this based on a handful of posters, most with one line suggestions about it being easier to simply buy a Windows tablet PC.

Yes the ASP solution would be nice but personally I would not give you the work if I needed such a task completed because you are so arrogant you would be quite incapable of listening to any other input.

guys this was meant to be a healthy discussion

chill! ;)

Clearly a spammer just trying to get more business. Well, he's gone now.

hey are you still thinking about this and your options?

Does the Doctor want to interrogate the DB as well?

If he/she just required to input data via forms then you could use the access data collection via emails/forms. Quite easy to use as long as they have wireless connections.

Apart from Remote Desktop I can't think of a way to use Access on an Ipad (not an easy way anyway).

Please PM me the same.

Hi guys,

i have a client which is a doctor and i am designing a database for him. Ideally he wants to put the database on the secretary's pc and also on his ipad so that when he exams he can enter the values of the patient in the database.

any ideas on how i can achieve this?

thank you

Hi, As I am new to iPad I have been browsing and found your forum. I have previously used DDH software to develop small databases for use on my windows CE based telephone for fire safety checking and download to Microsoft Access. Prior to joining you, I had a look at their site and found that PC to iPad synchronsing is available for MS Access. Try the following linking through DDHsoftware. Hopefully you will have some luck. Cheers from Australia

Yianni, check out Cellica Database on the iTunes Store. Its a free application that allows entering data on the ipad and synchronization with an access database on a PC. Have not tried it myself yet but I believe it supports forms on the ipad.

Just as another option.. if they have a server... with a website couldn't you push out some access datapages and have him access the pages via the Ipad's Safari browser??
At least with that option... you have all the software you need already installed on all machines... (this does assume a server.. or windows xpPro Machine)

Phivosz - that cellica looks fantastic. It is working in concept like MsAccess/jet does. It looks great.

I just did that, went out and bought an iPad, ok so you can link your database via a web form, no doubt you can build an iPad app that will connect to the database through SQL I'm not clever with iPad apps but for sure there are lots of possibilities and they are pretty cool, involves a lot more programming though.

On a windows xp professional machine you can install internet information services and broadcast a web page, something in asp will work to show, update, delete, edit records stored in an access database. You're limited to 10 concurrent connections though but you can connect via wi-fi on an intranet or Internet connection and it does exactly what you're wanting.

So this forum here for example is linked to a database and this message is stored in some table within that database, I would imagine they use mysql and php to obtain this, though I could be wrong.

Anyway you can use web forms or apps to connect to access and apple iPads though they lack camera and ability to print direct from the pad are not sooo bad though my opinion, by the way I was kinda anti apple till I bought this, also the auto replace is kinda annoying as is 1 handed typing, though I do also have a keyboard. Hope that helps

Are yes the grammatic errors are more an iPad thing than myself being unable to string a sentence properly. Also going to check out the cellica database app, looks interesting.

Im new to this forum. This has been very helpful. Going to go check out that Celica app. Sounds exactly like what I need.

We all ought to familiarize ourselves with ways to accommodate the Ipad. If you have seen the Ipad 2 you are going to to be working with them very soon. S I M P L Y A M A Z I N G.

handbase for ipad - database manager

app syncs with access.

isn't it nice when things just work.

xx

Hi guys,

i have a client which is a doctor and i am designing a database for him. Ideally he wants to put the database on the secretary's pc and also on his ipad so that when he exams he can enter the values of the patient in the database.

any ideas on how i can achieve this?

thank you
I am coming back to this question as I have now started to learn Objective C programming for iOS. Only learning it so far. Basically the way to do this properly is to expose the data in your data base to a WCF service (Using MS Speak) Then your i Device will send requests to this service to get information or send posts to this service to save information. It could be that you just do this behind the firewall of your router in the office so you do not have as many security issues.

I am pretty sure you cannot do this kind of thing with Access although I do not know A2010. You need to move to something like SQL Server 2005/2008 which you can use for free with the express version. Then you need to create (For example) a WCF Rest service.

Check out:

http://itunes DOTapple DOT com/us/app/access-mobile-database-client/id387300746?mt=8

Its for Access 2003-2007 on an iPAD.

Yikes. I now have this same problem. We sell software to pro sports teams, and the trend now is for them to issue iPads to their players. Our app is Access 2010 front end, SQL Server 2008 R2 back end. Most of the important business logic is encapsulated in server-side views and stored procedures, so the front end is fairly light. The teams have heaps of money, so asking them to stand up a PC for each player is a trivial expense, and they have proper It departments with PC techs, DBAs, etc.

My thinking however is to build a web interface into the SQL Server data that the players have to interact with. It's a relatively small subset of the entirety of the data, mostly self-reported exercise and diet info.

I think it would look better for our company if we could offer an applet that works on the iPad without having to insert an intermediate PC and do remote access. I built a data transfer app a while back using Iron Speed Designer and SQL Server 2005. I'm thinking of going this route. Anyone have any alternative ideas for development platform? We also would consider outsourcing the web app, so we would have the option of dictating tools, platform etc. Any ideas welcome, and thanks in advance.

I'd have thought going down the web front end route would be the easiest. Rather than any kind of syncing. Esp with the iPad's fairly competent browser you'd likely get away with a single site for both desktop users and the iPad.

Just a thought what about SharePoint? If you've got a 2010 Database with just macro coding, then you should be able 'up-size' it to SharePoint fairly easily.