stand-alone executable

[tjrobert82]

I've made a few databases in the past for an engineering test facility with some (limited) success. Recently we purchased a time sheet program that works as a stand alone program, but uses Microsoft Access to operate. Everything is table driven and there are filters and all the good stuff from Access, but it's a seperate program - I don't have to open Access to run this program. This would be great if I could make database programs that could run on their own, so to speak. Any chance one of you could point me in the right direction on how to learn to do that kind of thing? Do you need stand-alone Visual Basic or can I make the program within the limitations of Access? I have both so it doesn't really matter, but outisde of VBA within Office products, I'm a programming noob. Thanks in advance.

 

[WindSailor]

I am assuming you are familiar with Access.
I have not done any programming in VB6, but I am making the transition to VB.Net.
If you are interested in building an app that uses Access as a database with VB.Net then I would suggest the book: “Programming Visual Basic.Net for Microsoft Access Databases” by Rick Dobson. Sorry I haven’t done any programming for Access databases in VB.Net, but I have that book and it looks good.

There are lots of Database engines out there that you can use with VB or VB.Net.
For instance, MS SQL Server, MSDE, SQL Server Express, Access, Oracle, Sybase, DB2, Firebird, MySQL, SQLite, Advantage, Matisse, TurboDB, Ants, Fast Objects, VistaDB, CodeBase, Pervasive, NexusDB, Valentina and others I forgot to mention with new ones popping up in the crowd all the time.

Each one has its own plusses and minuses and ranging in functionality and price, (whew… did I say price?). Functionality is vastly different in those Database engines, I would spend a lot of time figuring out exactly what you need, don’t need, and where you want to go. Some companies offer a royalty free Developers price, and others charge a fee per application! Ask!

If you plan to expand your app to support a large amount of users, make sure the engine or company supports a server version. Again price, ask.

Access does a lot for you, under the hood so to speak, where with VB.Net you would have to code for certain functionality, like an auto-fill combo box.

When I want to try an idea out, with normalization, flow etc. I work with Access, it is so much easier to change and reorganize everything in Access than to do it in .Net, not to mention coding. Once I get the idea going in a straight line then I convert it to .Net.

I went to .Net because I wanted to learn the structure and to use another database engine. I had a heck of a time creating an app with the latest Access version and to try and get it to run on older operating systems etc. and trap all of the errors (too many different systems for me to test on) so I made the jump.

Hope that helps.

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I would definitley try Access first, if it doesn't fit your needs then move up.