Front end options

[yhgtbfk]

What are the best front end application options I should investigate?

I have heard that many choose asp or asp.net.

What do other people use?

 

[Pat Hartman]

Front end for what? The best front end for Jet tables is Access. I would never use Jet with anything else unless I didn't have any alternative.

 

[yhgtbfk]

Front end for what? The best front end for Jet tables is Access. I would never use Jet with anything else unless I didn't have any alternative.

If there are 20 or more users using your access file, problems can start.
Also, if you want to update your front end, then you must lock all users out of the database.

For this reason, alot of people use asp, asp.net, or even visual studio (I think).

That way when the application needs upgrading, the application can be modified, and all the data and tables within the access database remain safe.

ASP pages also allow your database to go online.

I was just curious as to what front end programs people have started using for their databases.

Oh, and we all love access!

 

[Pat Hartman]

Also, if you want to update your front end, then you must lock all users out of the database.

- in a production environment, this should never be done during normal work hours unless there is a serious problem that needs to be corrected immediately.

That way when the application needs upgrading, the application can be modified, and all the data and tables within the access database remain safe.

- Your forms/reports/queries, etc should be in one db and the tables in another so the data will always remain "safe". This has nothing to do with whether your front end is Access, VB, or COBOL and also has nothing to do with whether your back end is Jet, Oracle, or DB2. The fe and be should be separate to minimize corruption problems and allow for easier application upgrades.

You can use whatever you want as a "front end". I simply said that Jet is a poor choice for a "back end" unless you are using Access as the "front end". I would never create an ASP front end for Jet tables unless I had NO alternative.

If there are 20 or more users using your access file, problems can start.

- Using ASP as a front-end doesn't solve this problem. You still have 20 people accessing an Access database. This time it's the be only though. The only thing that solves the concurrent user problem is upgrading the back end to Oracle, DB2, or SQL server. Having done that, you can stick to Access as your front end.

 

[yhgtbfk]

- Your forms/reports/queries, etc should be in one db and the tables in another so the data will always remain "safe". This has nothing to do with whether your front end is Access, VB, or COBOL and also has nothing to do with whether your back end is Jet, Oracle, or DB2. The fe and be should be separate to minimize corruption problems and allow for easier application upgrades.

OK, this is when I become a total noob....

Um, how do you create forms, queries, reports etc... for tables that arent in the same database?

 

[Pat Hartman]

You link the tables. Forms/Get External Data/ Link - choose the db and choose the tables. Once they're linked it's just like working with local tables except that you can't change the design of them unless you open the db where they physically reside.

If you already have a completed db, you can split it by using the db splitter. This wizard will walk you through the process of creating a separate back-end db with just tables and a front-end db that is linked to the be. As with anything major, be sure to back up before experimenting.