Question Need help & advice capturing Signatures into Access (hopefully) (1 Viewer)

[VC91]

Hi,

Hopefully this forum is OK for the below question... I did ask where to post it in the Intoduce YourSelf forum but no one responded.......

I have a client that needs to be able to capture and store employee Signatures to log completion of certain events, preferably in an Access DB. They plan on using a MS Surface Tablet (touch screen with stylus, obviously)

I have looked into this and pretty much every Signature capture software provider has an Add-in that works with Excel or Word but not Access. One supplier I spoke to says they do have an API available so “maybe I could write my own Access solution using that”. This is where I become a little lost.

I have programmed in several languages in the past but have absolutely no experience using .net. I started looking at .net from seeing this MS webpage: Creating a User Control to Capture Signatures on a Tablet PC (msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa480678.aspx). This seems to say that I can write my own program using .net (hopefully using VB as I have next to no C experience).

The perfect solution for me / the client would be to program the solution (Signature capture is one element of what is required) in MS Access but I need to be able to cope with capturing and storing Signatures securely. This could be separated out into its own little standalone program but if it was part of the Access solution, it would be that bit tidier.

I have a few points here that break down some of my issues:
1. Can I call an external API from an Access DB and if so how?
2. Can I call an external .net program from an Access DB and if so how?
3. I have downloaded Visual Studio Express 2013 but are there any advantages to Paying for VS Pro e.g. the Pro version saves time by automating the programming of form data capture or DB reading or writing like Access does…
4. Should I use VS 2010 instead of 2013? I ask as apparently 2013 has no exception debugging.
5. If I split the required solution into an Access DB and a separate Signature capture program (to handle that one part of the solution), could the .net part read and store data from / in an Access DB.
6. What data type would the captured signature need to be stored as?
7. (If you think I have missed an obvious point that you know I will need to know, please feel free to point it out to me)
I would be very grateful if anyone could offer me some guidance and hopefully I have explained my situation clearly enough but if nit feel free to ask if I need to clarify anything.

Many thanks,
Paul.

 

[JHB]

Are you aware of the differences and do you ask for a solution using the digital ink signature?
Note from, (msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa480678.aspx).

A digital ink signature should not be confused with a digital signature, which generally refers to digital certificates administered by trusted third parties known as certificate authorities.

I have a few points here that break down some of my issues:
1. Can I call an external API from an Access DB and if so how?

Yes you can, (the below code line is for using the colour picker).

Private Declare Function ChooseColor Lib "comdlg32.dll" Alias "ChooseColorA" (pChoosecolor As COLORSTRUC) As Long

2. Can I call an external .net program from an Access DB and if so how?

I think the below link could be of interest for you:
http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/08/25/a-beginner’s-guide-to-calling-a-net-library-from-access/

3. I have downloaded Visual Studio Express 2013 but are there any advantages to Paying for VS Pro e.g. the Pro version saves time by automating the programming of form data capture or DB reading or writing like Access does…

Don't know.

4. Should I use VS 2010 instead of 2013? I ask as apparently 2013 has no exception debugging.

I would use version 2010.

5. If I split the required solution into an Access DB and a separate Signature capture program (to handle that one part of the solution), could the .net part read and store data from / in an Access DB.

See the answer under Q no. 2

6. What data type would the captured signature need to be stored as?

I would use the "Attachment" type.

 

[VC91]

Thank you very much for the reply.

The link to A Beginner’s Guide To Calling A .NET Library From Access seems as though it will be EXTREMELY useful.

I will need some time to go through it now.