access 2003 to vb.net and sql server

[broadbean]

I wrote a database in Access 2003 which is shared between about 15 to 20 users. i.e they have similar front ends but all access the same back end mdb
Now my company are wanting to move the back end to sql server but have the front end in VB.NET and not Access. I guess you cannot do a simple conversion so the whole front end will have to be written in VB.NET. I am not doing this but what happens in the future as my database is not set in stone. What about maintenance or if i need to create new forms, queries,modify tables e.t.c.
Is VB.NET easy to learn ? I don't know what there plan is yet.

 

[moto485]

yes if you want to modify the front end that is written in .net you will have to edit the code (unless they have built in features) and you can't just edit it like php you have to recompile it when you make changes, it is a big framework and if it is written using the mvc pattern there will be a bit more to learn.. I haven't used much .net but one thing is certain you will need to learn it to make those changes but you can still use Access separately to run your own queries and such...

 

[Galaxiom]

Download the free version of Visual Studio which is the design environment.

There is a substantial learning curve but it is a much more powerful and helpful designer than VBE. Instead of just telling you something is wrong it makes suggestions about what syntax you should be using.

The most fundamental difference from VBA is that absolutely everything is an object in .NET and many conversions that you would do in VBA with a function are done using a method of the object. For example a variable is converted to a string using the ToString method of the variable object. Date variables have methods to manipulate them.

A good way to start is to copy a VBA code module and see what breaks. The first thing you will notice is that it drops the Set keyword automatically. Since everything is an object, the Set is not required. Once you get you head around that you can move on to form design.