6 users citrix server access application

[DavidCdp1]

Hi Everyone,

I have a problem. I developed an application in access 2003. I don't have ms-office developer edition. It is a switch board application. I enter the application with a user name and password.
It is developed for my office and there is no need that I wish to distrubute this application to others. So I think there is no need to create a .exe version of this application. Is that true?
I developed this application, bearing in mind that six users will use it. In the office each person connects to citrix server to see their desktop. Now the problem is how can i make this application availble for all the six users, who connect to the application at the same time and doing operations(update,insert and delete) on the database. Is it possible or should i have to upgrade this to vb with sql server.
Please help me with your replies, desperately waiting.

Thanks
DavidCdp1.

 

[FLabrecque]

You probably should seperate your application in a front-end and back-end. The users would each have their own mdb file (which is the front-end). This file would contain the queries, modules, reports, forms and macros.

The front-ends would all link to the same mdb file which contains all the tables (this is the back-end).

As you may see, it's not that complicated. The only downside of this is new versions. If you update the front-end mdb file, you'll need to update each one of their mdb. It's still faster than running 6 VB install programs.

 

[DavidCdp1]

Thanks for your suggestions FlabrecQue,

Is it possible for me to test this on a single system at home. Like ...I create six .mdb files with different names and create another .mdb file(only with tables) with another name and open all the six .mdb files and connect with different names....and see whether it is working....Is that possible??....Can you help with the design...How do these forms in the front end forms know where the data base is?...
Please help..
Thanks in Advance..
DavidCdp1

 

[FLabrecque]

Keyword here: Link Table. This is how your front-end databases will know where to look for. If you need to refresh this link, or make sure the path is still valid, you go to TOOLS\Database Utilities\Link Table Manager.

And yes, you can test this on the same pc, or at home.

 

[FoFa]

With Citrix you can just have to Access installed on the Citrix Server for them to run the application. If it is designed as shared and does not need to be broken apart, you can run it with one copy (FE/BE is usually better however). All you have to do is have the Citrix Admin either create a ISA for the application or put a ICON on THIER desktop.

 

[DavidCdp1]

Thanks for this Fofa and Flabrecque,

Can you please give me a link where I can find an example(.zip file or code) for this please. I am still working on it.
Please suggest me : if i keep all reports,forms,modules,queries in one .mdb file and all tables in another .mdb file, how to link them, pls help.
Should I have to change record source for each form and query and report.

DavidCdp1.

 

[neileg]

Everything said so far is fine.

Two important things to emphasise:
1) You don't need to split a database for it to be used by several users. We use a lot of Access applications at work and they are shared by both Citrix users and networked PC users. All you need to do is place the mdb on a server that everyone can see. This is fine for simple stuff.
2) Access provides a database splitter wizard. What I would do is develop your application with everything you might need as a single file. Then run the splitter wizard which will give you a front end and a back end. If you need to customise the front ends for different users, make copies of the front end and amend these.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

When reading the above exchange, I noted what appeared to be a missed communication. Forgive me for belaboring what some will think as obvious.

David, when using Citrix, you only need one copy of your DB and one copy of Access.

When sharing the DB using more traditional file-sharing methods, every user needs a copy of Access. You can still get by with a single copy of the DB.

When trying to manage things more efficiently, you do a front-end/back-end split so your multiple users don't have to remote-load forms, reports, and modules. This becomes important only when you are dealing with traditional file-sharing and multiple copies of Access. It has little or no bearing on a Citrix situation.

 

[DavidCdp1]

Hi,

First I should thank everyone for your comments and help.
I used db spilitter to split the db into f/end and b/end, then I created 5 copies of the f/end, opened all f/ends and did different transactions, I saw the changes in the other users also. It means everything is working fine.

I did all these things after connecting to citrix server with my user name and password. What ever created it is all in my profile of the citrix. When I want to place the f/end in other users profile and do the transactions, it's not happening.

Can anybody please help how to solve this?

DavidCdp1

 

[neileg]

This may be down to drive mapping. If your profile under Citrix sees the server as drive Z: then that's what will be stored in the FE. If other users don't have the drive mapped as Z: then the links wont work.

 

[DavidCdp1]

Hello Neil,

How to settle in the front end...
please help...
DavidCdp1

 

[neileg]

If all 6 users are on Citrix and you are using the same FE for all 6, just different copies, there's no need. The only reasons you use different front ends are:
1) So that different users have different forms, reports etc
2) So that it minimises network traffic

On Citrix, the second issue does not arise since all the processing is done on the server. (I suspect that you haven't made any changes to the FE so issue 1 wouldn't arise, either.)

I suggest that instead of holding the FE on each user's profile, store all 6 in the same directory as the BE and store a shortcut to the relevant FE in their profiles. This should avoid the problem.

 

[DavidCdp1]

Thanks Neil,

I will try this...

DavidCdp1