[GRLUG] Access or Base?

[Eric Beversluis]

On Mon, 2013-04-08 at 14:17 -0500, L. V. Lammert wrote:
> On Mon, 8 Apr 2013, Eric Beversluis wrote:
> 
> > We've got a guy who needs to migrate his financial analysis DB from old
> > FoxPro (6.something) (which M$ has killed).
> >
> How complicated? Any chance of moving to a standard progeram like
> QuickBooks?

I haven't seen it yet but my understanding is it's more of a financial
advisor/markets-analysis DB.

Apparently he also extensively dumps data to Excel and has many macros
he uses there.

> 
> > One option would be to develop an Access FE and SQL Server (free
> > version) BE. But I'm not clear about where Access is going (are ties to
> > Sharepoint for Access and SQL Server going to be essential?
> >
> That's a question to which there is no firm answer presently. We have been
> using Access as a development platform for 15 years, however we still have
> apps on Access 2K [XP], and have updated to Access 07 for newer OSs (e.g.
> W7).
> 
> > Can Access still be used w/o all that web stuff?
> >
> I would recommend staying with Access 07, however, .. as all the new crap
> they are adding just pollutes the simplicity of the current system and
> it's usability as an IDE.
> 
> The best tools in Access are the table manager, query designer, form
> designer, and report designer. Anything else is fluff (who wants
> Sharepoint, anyway <g>!).
> 
> Access 07 is a big learning curve over previous versions, but once you
> figure out a few tricks (like hiding the darn Menu bar) it is actually
> more productive.

I guess I'd like to know that he'd still be able to count on Access 2007
in 10 years. I recently struggled with a project for a widow whose
husband had built an elaborate Access/VBA project but never upgraded
from Access 2000. While I was connected with the project we never were
able to get it properly upgraded to Access 2010, using an outside firm
who specialized in Access/VBA. 

The reason we "had" to upgrade was that the old system (Access 2000)
wouldn't run at all on Win7 64-bit.

> 
> > Would Access/SQL Server still be a good FE choice 10 years from now so
> > he doesn't have to re-do it again?)
> >
> A better solution would be to go web-based, however there could be issues
> with complex forms & reports.

Yeah--I've looked at Dadabik; and this would give him some remote
capabilities if he wanted it (and wanted to mess with DynDNS etc). But
he'd also have to maintain XAMPP or something similar, even to use it
just on his one box. For you and me that's not an issue, but I'm not
sure it's good to lay that on him.

> 
> It would be simpler (and more 'compatible') to use MySQL for the backend;
> there is a MySQL ODBC connector built for just such operation, and, if you
> have an old DB (you can import your FoxPro tables into Access, I believe),
> you can migrate them directly to the backend.

-Are you saying to migrate to Access first and then to MySQL?
-Are you saying it's better to use Access with MySQL than with SQL
Server?


> 
> > Am considering building a LO FE using Base with MySQL. Is it "healthy"
> > enough for him to use, esp if he's no computer whiz? Would he be able to
> > find someone to update/maintain it down the road without too much
> > trouble if we're not available?
> >
> "Base" has matured in recent years, and a lot of the core functionality is
> now there for doing a lot of simple applications. The major component
> missing is a scripting language - with Base, it appears that you can
> assign a macro to form events, but not objects themselves.

So there's no equivalent to the VBA/Access relation in LO Base?

> 
> > Does anyone have experience migrating FoxPro to MySQL? Is it reasonably
> > straightforward?
> >
> *That* is simple - configure the FoxPro app as an ODBC data source and you
> can pull the data from anywhere else.
> 
> As far as the application itself, no. If it can be done with simple forms
> (i.e. CRUD - Create, Report, Update, Delete), Base might be usable; for
> anything more sophisticated, Access would be better (again, < 07).

When I read the Base section of LO Getting Started, there are several
references to a "Base User Guide." But I haven't been able to find that
document. Does anyone know if the reference in "Getting Started" is
merely a promissory note?

> 
> 	HTH,
> 
> 	Lee
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