Let me start out by saying that I wanted to put this program on the internet with Access Services but the Access prejudice is very strong here and no one in the right position supports it or will even get involved with it. Many of the Specialists in the following group have iPads. So, here is my solution and a problem we encountered.
I set up a BE database on a shared drive on our in-house network to which this group of Specialists all had access to via a mapped drive Y:. Also, in this environment, each person has their own personal spot on the network. It is the H: Drive. Wherever they log on, they can access their H: Drive. I put a copy of the FE and instructions on the shared drive and each user would copy these to their H: Drive. That way they were always linked to the BE on the Y: Drive when they logged on.
The reason for this is that they could be in any location in our large complex when they need to enter data. So, they would use the nearest computer to log onto their H: Drive and use the FE program.
Now comes the problem. Many of the computers at these locations are set up to open and use one program. You are not allowed to log off and log back on. Therefore, my group can't get onto the computer and change that. They asked if they could use a thumb drive some way. I did something similar years ago where they would populate the database and email it to me. Next time they used it, it would clear the old records before they began data entry.
This would work if not for the fact that many of them need to pull some data from the BE in order to complete their input. My question is this:
Can an Access database be put on a thumb drive and programmed to automatically map to the Y: Drive when they use it? Thus, the FE would be linked to the BE and problem solved. I know it could be slow, but speed is not a priority here.
Thank you.
I set up a BE database on a shared drive on our in-house network to which this group of Specialists all had access to via a mapped drive Y:. Also, in this environment, each person has their own personal spot on the network. It is the H: Drive. Wherever they log on, they can access their H: Drive. I put a copy of the FE and instructions on the shared drive and each user would copy these to their H: Drive. That way they were always linked to the BE on the Y: Drive when they logged on.
The reason for this is that they could be in any location in our large complex when they need to enter data. So, they would use the nearest computer to log onto their H: Drive and use the FE program.
Now comes the problem. Many of the computers at these locations are set up to open and use one program. You are not allowed to log off and log back on. Therefore, my group can't get onto the computer and change that. They asked if they could use a thumb drive some way. I did something similar years ago where they would populate the database and email it to me. Next time they used it, it would clear the old records before they began data entry.
This would work if not for the fact that many of them need to pull some data from the BE in order to complete their input. My question is this:
Can an Access database be put on a thumb drive and programmed to automatically map to the Y: Drive when they use it? Thus, the FE would be linked to the BE and problem solved. I know it could be slow, but speed is not a priority here.
Thank you.