Access version recommendations?

[dd_bdlm]

I have been working for a couple of months now with an old access 97
database. I have managed to make necessary adjustments but its been at
times a struggle.

I have now been commissioned to construct an entirely new database and
I would wish this to be as 'all singing and dancing' as possible and
almost definitely have a web based front end.

Question is what version of Access am I best to update to to best do
this? Am I correct in my belief that Access XP has substantial links to
frontpage XP? Anyone any experience in using this? (Also if it became
necessary to copy customer records from the 97 DB is this possible to
the later versions?)

Also am I correct in thinking that accessing an access DB through a
webfront end can be done through any machine and not just one with
access or the correct version of access on it? (thinking of website
connectivity here).

Or would people recommend moving away from access altogether? Your
opinion is very much appreciated!

DDiver

[Alan Webb]

Here Alan goes again. Some versions of Access are better than others.
Someone else here has suggested that the better versions alternate with the
worse versions. I liked 97, so based on that, 2000 would stink, 2002 would
be better, 2003 may stink. I own 97, 2000 and 2002. I stopped doing
commercial work just before the release of 2002 so my opinion of anything
after 2000 has limited credibility. The stuff I've done since would work
fine in Access 2 so I don't sweat Access XP hard enough to see its flaws. I
like the bells & whistles that come with MSDE & SQL Server enough that my
preffered DBMS is SQL Server and not Jet. I never got far enough with
FrontPage to learn how to do decent database connected web sites that work
as nice as I want them to so I'll not offer an opinion there. Good luck.

--
Alan Webb
kn*******@SPAMhotmail.com
"It's not IT, it's IS
<dd*****@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:11**********************@g14g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...

I have been working for a couple of months now with an old access 97
database. I have managed to make necessary adjustments but its been at
times a struggle.

I have now been commissioned to construct an entirely new database and
I would wish this to be as 'all singing and dancing' as possible and
almost definitely have a web based front end.

Question is what version of Access am I best to update to to best do
this? Am I correct in my belief that Access XP has substantial links to
frontpage XP? Anyone any experience in using this? (Also if it became
necessary to copy customer records from the 97 DB is this possible to
the later versions?)

Also am I correct in thinking that accessing an access DB through a
webfront end can be done through any machine and not just one with
access or the correct version of access on it? (thinking of website
connectivity here).

Or would people recommend moving away from access altogether? Your
opinion is very much appreciated!

DDiver

[Lyle Fairfield]

"Alan Webb" <kn*****@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:p-********************@comcast.com:

I never got far enough with FrontPage to learn how to do decent
database connected web sites that work as nice as I want them ...

Has anyone?

--
Lyle
--

[David]

If you use Server side scripting\ASP then the client machines do not
need to have any version of Access at all. There are other things to
take into consideration as well, such as security and processing power
of the computer that will be serving up the wep pages and how many
people will be accessing the database through the web pages
simultaniously. Using Access 2003, you can create web pages, but I
prefer to use APS in the Visual Studio InterDev environment and
Microsoft Publisher 2003, (don't know if that is an option for you).
Using ASP, the backend just becomes a database file that holds the data
and the work is done by the ASP page, so it really would not matter
which version of Access you use except from the point of which driver
to use to create the database connection.

Hope this helps.
David Hodgkins, MCSD, MCDBA, MCSE
www.jstarsoftware.com - Home of AutoCompact for Access Databases