question on access project

[keyur]

hi

i have an access database i developed which needs to be used by multiple user. i found that access project is more appropriate for this. i havent got a clue how to start. when i open it asks for username and password. what i wanted to know is the basic requirements for creating a project (also if we r using windows 2000 NT then isn't there a local server.) i dont know about sql servers so maybe this sounds a bit stupid or an incomplete question but anything will be useful for me now. plus the IT guy in my company doesnt know about either access or sql.

Thanks for any help

 

[Pat Hartman]

i found that access project is more appropriate for this

- I don't know why you decided that. An .mdb is fine for a limited number of users especially if they each have their own copy of the front end.

plus the IT guy in my company doesnt know about either access or sql.

- If he doesn't know anything about SQL, how is he (or you?) going to create an SQL server database that your .adp can use? You can create a local db by using the upsizing wizard and converting an .mdb but you won't have any maintainence tools to manage the db. You also need a server where the SQL database engine runs (all the time) to provide access to the shared db.

 

[keyur]

hi pat

i was just reading about access projects on the net and microsoft knowledge base databases and it mentioned that for multiple users on server, project is better. my db is basically an indpection log for the products. so several users can add and edit data. i just want to avoid any conflicts if more than one user are using it at the same time. plus the db will grow in size in time.
Sure i dont know much about sql servers tht's why i am here, there's no harm in learning right? do you know of any site which explains more on this.
Another question i was reading about MSDE on MKBD where it states that Access uses JET 4.0 as default server and we have an option of changing to MSDE. Could you please explain me what this means and how to do it.

Thanks again Pat.

 

[Pat Hartman]

MSDE is a crippled version of SQL Server. It is set to deliberately slow down when a particular number of threads is reached. The number is 8 I think. If you don't have SQL Server, you will only have the .adp interface to manage the database.

Converting to an .adp could be a lot of work unless you have already employed client/server methods in your db development. Search the Microsoft knowledgebase for articles on client/server optimization. At a minimum, you'll need to change all your forms/reports so that they are based on queries with criteria rather than tables or unqualified queries. With Jet it didn't make any difference but with a real RDBMS backend, you want the queries to be executed on the server and return ONLY the row(s) you need for the task at hand. Converting to an .adp, you could re-write all your queries and turn them into stored procedures but you don't need to.