🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <msf.757836510@phobos> msf@kbs.citri.edu.au "Michael Fuller" writes:

>I have a query for experienced users of MS Access,
>regarding its suitability for use as in a hypertext database.
>
>
>The functionality that we need includes:
>
>      o being able to produce a nice WIMP interface (text fields,
>        *buttons*, etc) so it's *easy* to enter new data or begin
>        searches,
>      o support for searching large databases on varying fields
>        and criteria,
>      o the ability to cope with large and growing numbers of records,
>      o networkability,
>      o being able to produce reports simply.
>
>So:
>      o Is MS Access appropriate?
Yes, by the sounds of your requirements.  If you have many users
who are updating data frequently it might not be so suitable, but it sounds
as most of the work is in querying the existing data, which is fine even
with several users.  I would not use Access if I needed more than 4 or 5
users do continuous updates.
>      o Is it necessary to use Visual Basic to get the sort of
>        interface that we want?
No, Access can provide everything you would need for your application.
>      o What other alternatives should we consider?
There are dozens of other products which could probably do the job, many
of them very well.  Access is amongst the easy to use to build the application
you need, so why use anything else?
>      o Are there any issues to watch out for?
People telling you that Access isn't a serious development tool.  I have
developed two systems in Access for a bank which are used for the 
managing and investment of $5bn and they are very happy with it.  It is
not as comprehensive as other tools, such as PowerBuilder, or as flexible
as using VisualBasic, Galaxy, or, more obviously, C/C++, but it is
great for some things.

-- 
David Adams