I have been building a database for work. It will be a request form. Once it is complete It will disperse the data to all the appropriate departments for additional data management. The issue is........I don't know how users will be able to open the file! My department does not have the ability to publish the database to the web, so the goal was for there to be logic in the front-end to guild them through the process. Does anyone know a good way to provide users access to the database?
I've tried:
1. Sharepoint - Prompts a download
2. Dropbox - Prompts a download
3. Path in the directory - When posted on our website, it prompts a download
Not sure what else to try and at this rate, I'm going to have to start all over.
Thanks in advance for your help and support, I'm new at all of this.
I have been building a database for work. It will be a request form. Once it is complete It will disperse the data to all the appropriate departments for additional data management. The issue is........I don't know how users will be able to open the file! My department does not have the ability to publish the database to the web, so the goal was for there to be logic in the front-end to guild them through the process. Does anyone know a good way to provide users access to the database?
I've tried:
1. Sharepoint - Prompts a download
2. Dropbox - Prompts a download
3. Path in the directory - When posted on our website, it prompts a download
Not sure what else to try and at this rate, I'm going to have to start all over.
Thanks in advance for your help and support, I'm new at all of this.
Please do NOT try to distribute the Access relational database as a download from SharePoint, Dropbox or as a link on a website. Access is not designed to work that way. You can NOT manage the data safely that way.
The basic scenario is that the current accdb you created is split into two. One of the accdbs contains only the data in tables. The other accdb contains only the interface and logic components, i.e. forms, reports and VBA, along with queries to retrieve the data into those forms and reports.
We commonly refer to the data accdb as the Back End, or BE. The BE contains only tables.
We also refer to the interface accdb as the Front End, or BE. The FE contains only forms, reports, queries and VBA.
Next, link the FE to the tables in the BE. Invest some time, as noted above, in learning how to do this.
Place the BE on your network, not in SharePoint, not in Dropbox. They work differently and don't support the file system required by Access. It has to be a shared folder on your network.
Give each user a COPY of the FE. One copy per user. no shared copies. That way, they don't cause problems for one another.
When you update forms or reports, create new FEs and give those replacement FEs to the users. The data stays in the shared BE.
Back frequent, systematic backups of the BE and your own master copy of the FE in which you do further development. There is no such thing as too many backups.
With this approach, everyone can share the data and do their work as required.
Not necessarily. The FE resides on the computer in that kiosk (and that brings up another factor). It only needs to be replaced if YOU, the developer, change something in the master copy and need to update the Kiosk copies.
To run, Access requires either the full version or a free runtime version installed on each of the workstations where your users will use it. Another topic to learn about: Access runtime.
They shouldn't need to download it repeatedly, even if the computer resets - but if your network is not stable, then you (ie someone) needs to get that resolved, as that is a risk for all of your systems.
However, they need read/write/delete permissions because of the way File Locking works in Access.
