Just to prove your point re: everybody's got their own favorite tool--In the
case you're describing I would advocate taking VB out of the picture.  If
you're using Access to hold data & do reports (& DAO for data access, even),
you may as well do the UI there too...  Like you say--different strokes.

BTW, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you would need the Access
executable present & registered on your users' machines in order make use of
its reporter via automation.

Cheers,

-Roy

-----Original Message-----
From: jeffrey.buchanan@n...
[mailto:jeffrey.buchanan@n...]
Sent: Wednesday, December 13, 2000 8:06 AM
To: professional vb
Subject: [pro_vb] Re: vb 6 using datareports


Classification: NATO UNCLASSIFIED - RELEASABLE TO INTERNET

I have seen Access used as a tool for reports with a VB5 front-end and a
Access97 Backend.  Data Access was DAO and with Data Controls.  In this
application it had to have a FULL Version of Access97 loaded on the local
machine to work, cause you had to manual update table links after
installation.  The programmers created forms, queries, macros and VBA with
in the Access database to create a very good reporting tool.   There are
some problems with the way that this one was created:

1.  It used forms within the Access97 Database to select the type of report
you wanted.
2.  It used Table Linking to get to the Tables.
3.  It required a fully loaded Access97 program on the client machine after
installation.

All of the above problems could of been solved by doing the following:
1.  Put all the forms and most of the code within the VB front-end.
2.  Use ODBC for linking the tables.
3.  Use a reference to the Access Object Library, Msacc8.olb or Msacc9.olb
to manipulate Access through VB.  This way you do not need Access97 loaded
on the client machine and the user will never know your reports are being
generated by Access.

Access is a good tool but has limitations if the backend doesn't allow for
ODBC connections and there is allot of overhead do the conversion between
the backend through ODBC to Access and vice versa.  For a faster report go
with Crystal.  As a opinions for reporting engine?  What ever is more
convenient and easy for the programmer is what you should use.  Programming
doesn't have very many standards as in how to accomplish a task.  Every
programmer is different.  It is up to you.


OR7 Jeffrey H. Buchanan
Programmer/Access Instructor
SFC, US Army
RSGS, C SQN 
SHAPE, NATO

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