[GRLUG] Access or Base?

[L. V. Lammert]

On Mon, 8 Apr 2013, Eric Beversluis wrote:

> 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.
>
That could be problematic, it is very easy to create very complesx VBA
code in Excel that can only be used in Excel. That is one of MS marketing
tactics <b>!

> 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.
>
You will not have *vendor* support, but who needs it? There are tons of
forum sites that specialize in Access - just google a problem and you
swill see numerous answers.

In reality, Access has become more of a community product than some Open
Source ones!

> The reason we "had" to upgrade was that the old system (Access 2000)
> wouldn't run at all on Win7 64-bit.
>
Yes, that was a major step, the reason we went to '07 in 2010. It is fully
backwards compatible however - I update A2K databases all the time (in A3K
format) and send them back to XP machines with the A2K runtime (which is
free, btw).

> -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?
>
No, two different systems. MySQL is a dataqbase - Access is an IDE that
happens to have a simple database built-in.

You can move your *data* to MySQL fairly simply by creating an ODBC data
source from the FoxPro application.

Forms and reports will have to be recreated in whatever IDE or
webframework that is choosenn.

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

> 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?
>
Far simpler to create your datasource, create a Base application, and see
what you can create.

As soon as you run into a question, Google is the best resource.

	Lee