Access 2010 with Sharepoint 2010
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From: Bob Alston on 7 Nov 2009 14:52 I found this article http://sharepointproconnections.com/Articles/tabid/149/nodeid/1996/SharePoint-Wish-List--Does-SharePoint-2010-Deliver-.aspx Of key interest to me was these two points: "You can run SharePoint 2010 for development on a Vista or Windows 7 client." Hopefully this means you can test out the Access 2010 in a browser capabilities. "SharePoint 2010 supports all popular browsers and provides XHTML, WCAG 2.0 AA compliance. Level 1 browsers, which support 100 percent functionality, include 32- bit versions of IE7, IE8, and Firefox on Windows. Level 2 browsers are IE7 and IE8 x64, Safari, Firefox on other platforms. Level 2 browsers will have some limitations in rendering and behavior." Bob
From: Albert D. Kallal on 7 Nov 2009 17:15 "Bob Alston" <bobalston9(a)yahoo.com> wrote in message news:KdkJm.7661$de6.5721(a)newsfe21.iad... >I found this article > > http://sharepointproconnections.com/Articles/tabid/149/nodeid/1996/SharePoint-Wish-List--Does-SharePoint-2010-Deliver-.aspx > > Of key interest to me was these two points: > > > "You can run SharePoint 2010 for development on a Vista or Windows 7 > client." > > Hopefully this means you can test out the Access 2010 in a browser > capabilities. > Well, the question is do you really need to go to all that trouble? I mean in traditional web development, you usually have to adopt what is called a develpment stack. that means you need to adopt a web server, a database server, and probably choose a particular browser scripting language on top of this. And, some type of scripting language to run on the web server side of things is also a big help. A pupular stack for example is lamp (Linux, Apache, mySQL, PHP). On the other hand if you start developing in asp.net, then you'll need a windows based web server to run "Internet services" (in place of the Apahce web server for example). If you're writing your software to mySQL, but that web server is only running Microsoft's SQL server, then again you're out of luck. (you'll either have to change hosting providers, or changer development practices or software to run on that particular platform). And, you useally need to adopt some type of browser scripting language, or least some type of development system that will produce some type of browser scripting compatible code for your web forms (java, or vbs Script for example). And, for that database server to hold your data you have to train yourself in using SQL server, mySQL, oracle or whatever particular database server you like. You have to learn the tools on how to create the tables, create relationships, create triggers and stored procedures. And, you better be sure that the target web hosting service will have and support that particular database system + features. (believe it or not, in some cases the web hosting provider will support a particular database system, but some database features may not necessarily be supported). So the database server thing can be quite a big investment of your time to learn the database triggers, the database Stored procedure language. Even the dialect of SQL from one vendor such as MySql is differnt then that of MS sql server. So you write to one standard and stick with it. The next thing you have to adopt is what type the web server you're going to use. There is quite a few choices, but two common ones are Apache, and another one is Microsoft's Internet services. I could type on for a bit more here, but I think the above explains why in most cases one individual developer tends not to build a web based applications. You'll have a guy that does some work for the databae side of things, and then you'll have a developer that codes the business part of the application. All I am saying is that you need a LOT of technologies to get a web site up and running. However another fantastic development stack right now in my humble opinion is sharepoint 2010. The beauty of this system is that you can write to this particular standard and you can be sure that your software will run if your server or hosting provider is running that that version of shaerPoint. Sharepoint becomes a new target environment for us people building office automation applications. The standards and feature set will use for the cloud is going to be sharepoint. Just like now we build applications to the office standard (that might use outlook, excel, and MS access on the desktop), in the future we build applications that does all the similar functions, but all be mostly web based. Therefore we must adopt some new office web standard that all our customers can use. The reason why markets like the iPhone are great is because developers can write to the one standard for that phone and make GOOD money. The same goes for the windows desktop: it's a standard you can write your software too and sell into a marketplace. The same goes for the xBox 360. It is actually critical to be aware of these market type places that exists for YOUR software. Oracle also a good "market" because they again have a ready made market that businesses has purchased into (and in which you can consult into to make good money). You can't just write one piece of software for one client and start to make any kind of decent money in this industry. Your code (or application) has to be reusable for more than one client. So we now develop to a office standard (and VBA). Our next and software for the cloud will be built to the sharepoint standard (at least it will for me!). It's critical that one adopts a set of standard tools and development process so that we can go from customer to customer without spending three months to learning some new web platform (or database server) for EVERY single differnt customer. Anyway...I not really sure it worth it to bother to install and setup all that SharePoint junk on your local computer? That is a LOT fo work. With access, it simplty brilliant and easy, all's you do the thing is say you're building a web compatible application, and start developing. You don't need all that server based garbage to start out. I suppose it might be a thrill during the development process to see something go in a browser, but it not really necessary requirement during the access development process. The other thing to keep in mind is that sharepoint 2010 only installs on a 64 bit machine. They don't support a 32 bit install. This is not really huge deal, as most server based systems are gravitate toward 64 bit requirements. I suppose you could install sharePoint to a new computer, but I'm not really sure what the advantage would be here, except for that of wanting to learn more about sharepoint? Virtually every one of my clients from two men small companies up to some fairly large ones all have a web site, but virtually none of them, I repeat not one of them is hosting their own web server. In fact of the several of my clients that attempted to host their own web server found it to be expensive, lots of maintenance, and furthermore they actually had some serious security problems in terms exposing and having that web server sitting on the same network as the company network. So walking into a small business and have a web server setup is a rather daunting task, and in my experience most companies don't need to do it, and it's not worth their time to do it. Is it little wonder that the vast majority of most businesses today simply purchase a little monthly hosting package and put their website into that system? It far less hassle, it's far more secure, and in most cases it's far less expensive. Now to be honest, I did set up a virtual PC for with SharePoint for testing with access 2007 about two years ago. However at that time I also started ussing the free on-line edition of sharepoint at www.officelive.com. Since I started using this free on-line edition of sharePoint I not booted my local VPC copy of sharepoint in about two years. In other words using the free online version of sharepoint was FAR easier to use and play and test with. I never had to wait for it to boot or startup, and I could test/use/place the SharePoint stuff any place and on any computer with an Internet connection. I'm only explain the above, because when we start thinking of the world of web development, we kinda have to view things in a different light. There's tons of sharepoint hosting providers out there, and they're growing by the day. So, to me sharepoint is just another web stack like a lamp that you're gonna write your software to. You then look for a provider to host that applciaon (or, you use the free on-line edition of SharePoint). For sure those companies that believe in investing in technology tend to have sharepoint internally these days anyway. (and , this fact is rather wonderful, as again it simply expands my market for my services I can offer to different customers). So, as mentioned, sharePoint is much like Oracle, or other "ready" made markets that are good for your bottom line. Here's a video from the sharepoint conference last week, and can see the quite a few companies now are using sharepoint as their general purpose public facing a web services system: http://www.mssharepointconference.com/pages/videoplayer.aspx?vhid=4 -- Albert D. Kallal (Access MVP) Edmonton, Alberta Canada pleaseNOOSpamKallal(a)msn.com
From: David W. Fenton on 7 Nov 2009 19:06 "Albert D. Kallal" <PleaseNOOOsPAMmkallal(a)msn.com> wrote in news:BkmJm.1895$dc2.1857(a)newsfe20.iad: > However another fantastic development stack right now in my humble > opinion is sharepoint 2010. The beauty of this system is that you > can write to this particular standard and you can be sure that > your software will run if your server or hosting provider is > running that that version of shaerPoint. But that's a huge problem, Albert. As enthusiastic as I am about the new things you're telling us about, I still see it as only viable internally or over a VPN because IIS is just not viable as a web server exposed directly to the Internet. Windows web hosts are more expensive and less plentiful than your usual LAMP hosting providers, and it has always been that way (had it not been, in 1999 I would have been developing in Cold Fusion instead of starting to learn PHP, which I still hate from the standpoint of its architecture). It would be nice if Sharepoint server could be decoupled from Windows and IIS and utilize any reasonable database server as its data store. I know that will never happen, since one of the main points of Sharepoint is to force you to use Microsoft products. But that's the only way it would ever get wide acceptance, seems to me. -- David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/ usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/
From: David W. Fenton on 7 Nov 2009 19:08 "Albert D. Kallal" <PleaseNOOOsPAMmkallal(a)msn.com> wrote in news:BkmJm.1895$dc2.1857(a)newsfe20.iad: > I not really sure it worth it to bother to install and > setup all that SharePoint junk on your local computer? That is a > LOT fo work. I you don't have a Sharepoint server otherwise available to you, it seems obvious that it would be useful. Why would it not? -- David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/ usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/
From: David W. Fenton on 7 Nov 2009 19:10
(I should have included this in my previous answer) "Albert D. Kallal" <PleaseNOOOsPAMmkallal(a)msn.com> wrote in news:BkmJm.1895$dc2.1857(a)newsfe20.iad: > With access, it simplty brilliant and easy, all's you do the thing > is say you're building a web compatible application, and start > developing. You don't need all that server based garbage to start > out. I suppose it might be a thrill during the development process > to see something go in a browser, but it not really necessary > requirement during the access development process. I can't believe you said that. I would bet that if I Googled I could find you recommending that someone not develop in A2000 and distribute in A2003 -- you need to test your app on the deployed platform, not just something that's compatible. How else can you figure out what's not going to work as well in the browser as in Access itself? Surely you're not claiming that 100% of an Access app is going to convert to the browser-based Sharepoint version and have exactly the same performance and ease of use? Testing on all the target deployment platforms is not just a matter of getting a thrill but a necessary part of any serious developer's basic responsibilities. -- David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/ usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/ |