Migrate from Access 97?
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From: RonG on 20 Feb 2010 12:13 Hi, I have an application written in Access 97 that is distributed using the runtime. We've done all of our development work for years using Access 97, but as I'm working on a major new release right now, I'm wondering if it might be time to move up to a newer version of Access. The choices would seem to be.... 1. Stay right where we are and deal with the weird things that occasionally come up as our users move to newer versions of Windows. 2. Update to the latest and greatest Access. 3. Update, but to something not quite as new. With Access2007 and onwards, I understand that you go to the new format. Would most consider that worth the effort, or is it better/ safer to stay with something prior to Acc2007? From what I understand, you can move to Acc2007 but stay under the .mdb format, giving up access to the new functionality. I would imagine that the Acc2007 runtime would require the new format, but I haven't researched all of that yet. Just trying to get a general direction at this point. I've even looked at moving to an entirely different platform, such as Servoy, that touts their ability to move to the Web easily, but that would require completely rewriting the app, and I'm not too excited about doing that at this point. I'd just as soon stay with Access and deal with the weirdness that is Microsoft, rather than have to learn the weirdness of a new provider. So, just looking from some general thoughts as to where I might concentrate my research options. I would imagine that this has been a fairly common topic over the years, but I'm just beginning my research on it, having dabbled with the idea a bit before. Thanks for any thought you might have. Ron
From: Rick Brandt on 20 Feb 2010 14:46 RonG wrote: > Hi, > I have an application written in Access 97 that is distributed using > the runtime. We've done all of our development work for years using > Access 97, but as I'm working on a major new release right now, I'm > wondering if it might be time to move up to a newer version of > Access. The choices would seem to be.... > 1. Stay right where we are and deal with the weird things that > occasionally come up as our users move to newer versions of Windows. > 2. Update to the latest and greatest Access. > 3. Update, but to something not quite as new. > > With Access2007 and onwards, I understand that you go to the new > format. Would most consider that worth the effort, or is it better/ > safer to stay with something prior to Acc2007? From what I > understand, you can move to Acc2007 but stay under the .mdb format, > giving up access to the new functionality. I would imagine that the > Acc2007 runtime would require the new format, but I haven't researched > all of that yet. Just trying to get a general direction at this > point. I've even looked at moving to an entirely different platform, > such as Servoy, that touts their ability to move to the Web easily, > but that would require completely rewriting the app, and I'm not too > excited about doing that at this point. I'd just as soon stay with > Access and deal with the weirdness that is Microsoft, rather than have > to learn the weirdness of a new provider. > > So, just looking from some general thoughts as to where I might > concentrate my research options. I would imagine that this has been a > fairly common topic over the years, but I'm just beginning my research > on it, having dabbled with the idea a bit before. > > Thanks for any thought you might have. You could find a copy of Access 2000 and convert to that file format. Then you can distribute on one CD a copy of your app in 97 along with the Access 97 runtime and a copy in 2000 format along with the 2007 runtime. Not only does the 2007 runtime not require the AccDB format it doesn't even require an MDB created in 2007. It will happily run an MDB or MDE from 2000 on up. That positions you to support all versions of Windows from Windows 95 through Windows 7 (if that is something you are interested in). That is what I do with the one app I distribute to a wide variety of PCs (over which I have zero control). Using InstallShield 2010 I can distribute one installer that provides the option to install either version of my app and either runtime. If you are in a position where all users have WinXP or higher then you could decide to move to the AccDB file format if any of the features requiring that interest you or your users. Of course that means moving development to the 2007 environment (something that I have zero interest in...ever).
From: PW on 20 Feb 2010 22:39 >point. I've even looked at moving to an entirely different platform, >such as Servoy, that touts their ability to move to the Web easily, >but that would require completely rewriting the app, and I'm not too >excited about doing that at this point. I sort of started to get excited about Servoy. I never heard of it before you mentioned it. But the lastest example or client info is back in 2006-07. Has it been passed by for something better?? -pw
From: PW on 20 Feb 2010 22:46 On Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:46:50 -0600, Rick Brandt <rickbrandt2(a)hotmail.com> wrote: >RonG wrote: > >> Hi, >> I have an application written in Access 97 that is distributed using >> the runtime. We've done all of our development work for years using >> Access 97, but as I'm working on a major new release right now, I'm >> wondering if it might be time to move up to a newer version of >> Access. The choices would seem to be.... >> 1. Stay right where we are and deal with the weird things that >> occasionally come up as our users move to newer versions of Windows. >> 2. Update to the latest and greatest Access. >> 3. Update, but to something not quite as new. >> >> With Access2007 and onwards, I understand that you go to the new >> format. Would most consider that worth the effort, or is it better/ >> safer to stay with something prior to Acc2007? From what I >> understand, you can move to Acc2007 but stay under the .mdb format, >> giving up access to the new functionality. I would imagine that the >> Acc2007 runtime would require the new format, but I haven't researched >> all of that yet. Just trying to get a general direction at this >> point. I've even looked at moving to an entirely different platform, >> such as Servoy, that touts their ability to move to the Web easily, >> but that would require completely rewriting the app, and I'm not too >> excited about doing that at this point. I'd just as soon stay with >> Access and deal with the weirdness that is Microsoft, rather than have >> to learn the weirdness of a new provider. >> >> So, just looking from some general thoughts as to where I might >> concentrate my research options. I would imagine that this has been a >> fairly common topic over the years, but I'm just beginning my research >> on it, having dabbled with the idea a bit before. >> >> Thanks for any thought you might have. > >You could find a copy of Access 2000 and convert to that file format. Then >you can distribute on one CD a copy of your app in 97 along with the Access >97 runtime and a copy in 2000 format along with the 2007 runtime. Not only >does the 2007 runtime not require the AccDB format it doesn't even require >an MDB created in 2007. It will happily run an MDB or MDE from 2000 on up. > >That positions you to support all versions of Windows from Windows 95 >through Windows 7 (if that is something you are interested in). That is >what I do with the one app I distribute to a wide variety of PCs (over which >I have zero control). Using InstallShield 2010 I can distribute one >installer that provides the option to install either version of my app and >either runtime. > >If you are in a position where all users have WinXP or higher then you could >decide to move to the AccDB file format if any of the features requiring >that interest you or your users. Of course that means moving development to >the 2007 environment (something that I have zero interest in...ever). Hi Rick, Why not 2007? I interviewed at a company, that is using 2007, for a database mangement/designer position. The product my wife and I have developed is in 2003. I looked at their 2007 environment and it sure looked confusing. I did not realize that the learning curve from 2003 to 2007 would seem so steep. And the front-end is in VB (not VB.NET) and they don't own VB and don't want to upgrade to VB.NET (I know very little about .NET anyway) as Microsoft is not supporting regular VB (so they told me) So I would have to rewrite what was done into Access 2007. The code looked very much like what we do with VBA. I wonder if it could be compiled into Access VBA 2007. -paulw
From: David W. Fenton on 21 Feb 2010 00:24 RonG <rgafron(a)sbcglobal.net> wrote in news:4ff77263-908e-49bd-8f6d-7a6698fbe262(a)z19g2000yqk.googlegroups.co m: > Hi, > I have an application written in Access 97 that is distributed > using the runtime. We've done all of our development work for > years using Access 97, but as I'm working on a major new release > right now, I'm wondering if it might be time to move up to a newer > version of Access. The choices would seem to be.... > 1. Stay right where we are and deal with the weird things that > occasionally come up as our users move to newer versions of > Windows. 2. Update to the latest and greatest Access. > 3. Update, but to something not quite as new. > > With Access2007 and onwards, I understand that you go to the new > format. Um, why? What is there in the ACCDB format that gives you a benefit in A2007 if you're not integrating with Sharepoint? So far as I can see, and so far as anybody has been able to tell me when I've asked this question, there is nothing in ACCDB that is truly useful enough to favor ACCDB front ends or data storage over MDBs. I'm unclear about some features, like split forms (which *are* useful) -- are those supported in MDB format or only in ACCDB? > Would most consider that worth the effort, or is it better/ > safer to stay with something prior to Acc2007? From what I > understand, you can move to Acc2007 but stay under the .mdb > format, giving up access to the new functionality. ....there's very little such, so far as I can tell... > I would imagine that the > Acc2007 runtime would require the new format, Nope. The runtime is the same executable and the same set of libraries as full Access, so it supports exactly the same file formats as full A2007. > but I haven't researched > all of that yet. Just trying to get a general direction at this > point. I've even looked at moving to an entirely different > platform, such as Servoy, that touts their ability to move to the > Web easily, but that would require completely rewriting the app, > and I'm not too excited about doing that at this point. I'd just > as soon stay with Access and deal with the weirdness that is > Microsoft, rather than have to learn the weirdness of a new > provider. My personal approach is to skip A2007 (just as I've skipped Vista) and make the move with A2010. Between the accumulated new features of A2007 and the host of incredibly useful extensions to A2010, it seems to me that it's a big winner. And on the web front, it's also a big winner. To really benefit from that, you have to replace your old Access forms/reports with the new web versions, but it will be a familiar environment and will run both in the Access client and on a Sharepoint-hosted website. > So, just looking from some general thoughts as to where I might > concentrate my research options. I would imagine that this has > been a fairly common topic over the years, but I'm just beginning > my research on it, having dabbled with the idea a bit before. I'm planning on having at least one decent-sized app in production use under A2010 a year from now. That's *very* early for me, as I'm usually a very late adopter of new versions. I'm also a huge proponent of Windows 7. It just seems to me that MS is getting their act together again and producing stellar products again, after a period where it seems to me that they lost their way (e.g., A2000 and, for me, WinXP, though I loved the server version of WinXP, i.e., 2003). A2010 is just filled with all sorts of really significant advancements and with the web support, it's a whole new ballgame. If I were in your position, with A2010 due out in the middle of this year, I'd simply ignore A2007 as a development platform (though it's probably a good idea to familiarize yourself with it as a way to prepare for A2010), and wait for A2010. -- David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/ usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/
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