transferrable controls to Sharepoint or Office 365 (1 Viewer)

[accessuser1023]

all,

Does anyone have a resource for this on the web anywhere? I believe a sharepoint BE with an Access FE is just a data stream isn't it? I don't think the displays are actually form objects, they're just representations and the data in the background streams to and fro.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what controls and placeholders on forms *not* to use if an Access application will eventually be migrated to Sharepoint or Office 365? I don't have much experience with either of these.

any comments welcome. thanks.

 

[Pat Hartman]

There is no migration path for forms/reports etc. There is only a migration path for data. You can copy your table data to linked SharePoint lists. That's it. You will need to start again to build web forms if that is where you are going. If you are going to leave the FE as an Access client/server database, then you can link to the SharePoint lists and they work similarly to linked tables with limitations of course since SharePoint is not a relational database.

Web forms have different control properties and form events and significantly less functionality. Not to mention that VBA is not available and you are restricted to macros. You cannot convert a c/s form to a web form. You need to recreate it from scratch.

PS, I wouldn't even consider making a web application in anything less than A2013 and in that case, you will not be working with SharePoint lists, you will be working with a real SQL Server database which is a big improvement. The technology used for A2010 and A2007 web forms has already been deprecated so unless your app has a very short life expectancy, don't use anything but A2013 for web development.

 

[accessuser1023]

Pat,

I've always enjoyed your responses as I know you've been at this for decades now. Aren't web-based databases (in terms of the name only) available from 2007 onwards? I think that's an option in 07 if I remember right. Or is that starting in 2010?

Your information is unbelievably helpful by the way. thanks.

 

[Pat Hartman]

They are options but the underlying technology changed completely in A2013. That's why I don't suggest using older versions to build them. If you build a client/server app with A97, it still works in A2013 but web apps may not. If you are going to build using A2007, verify that the app will work with the newest version of SharePoint and Access before investing a lot of time in old technology.

 

[Pat Hartman]

As I have said many times. I don't build Access web apps because they don't support the functionality my apps always seem to require so I am not actually the person who knows the answer you need.

 

[accessuser1023]

what other info do you have regarding 2013 and why it apparently is so "great"? Did they basically use that as a catalyst to meld themselves into the global web like everyone already did years ago?

 

[Pat Hartman]

I didn't say A2013 is "great". The client/server features we know and love from earlier versions of Access are there for the most part. You can kiss certain activeX controls such as listview and treeview good-bye because MS deprecated them but otherwise, A2013 works well for client/server apps. The team spent most of this release cycle concentrating on rewriting the web functionality they introduced in earlier versions. They made massive changes which makes it better (and incompatible) but in my opinion until the functionality reaches that available with A2.0 from the early 90's, I wouldn't even call it "good" let alone "great".

 

[accessuser1023]

They made massive changes which makes it better (and incompatible) but in my opinion until the functionality reaches that available with A2.0 from the early 90's, I wouldn't even call it "good" let alone "great".

No doubt. MS is probably the king of supression in terms of leaving others behind. That's good to know about Acc 2013.

Can you give me any advice on the forward compatibility of FE/BE Acc apps (not web/client, but just local apps) if they are developed in 2007 and/or 2010? I know there's a problem with Macro schema which causes corruption because that was apparently changed in 2010? Is that right? I remember Bob Larson saying something about it...

thanks.

 

[Pat Hartman]

I don't use macros so I can't give you any information there. I haven't used A2013 much since only one of my clients even has it installed. But the apps that I have tested, work fine. I think they look like shadows of their former self but that is the new "metro" look and change for the sake of change as far as I'm concerned. Dear MS, We can do with less change for the sake of change and more fixing of old problems.

 

[accessuser1023]

Dear MS, We can do with less change for the sake of change and more fixing of old problems.

Yes. And along with that I would say that change for the sake of change will now happen until the very end is reached. Why? I don't know. But let us not forget that because China and India have now been forced to learn the American way, Africa is next in line. Personally, I'm waiting to see after that one is all over with. That'll be the interesting change to see. I know this much though ... I certainly don't want to be anywhere near it when it happens.