Hi Ivan,

The figure of 255 users is for the upper limit for the number of users over
a LAN.  In fact, the consensus among many Access developers is that the
actual upper limit is more like 20 users in practice.  This number can vary
substantially depending on what your users are doing with the database, the
size of the database, and how you program their access (for example,
fire-hose cursors are faster than keyset cursors).

Regarding web work, I am not sure if you are talking about intranet or
Internet connections.  If you plan an intranet deployment, Data Access Pages
(DAP) are a very attractive developing framework.  It is graphical and fast
to develop with for simple applications.  If you plan an Internet
deployment, then I recommend Active Server Pages as a developing framework.
This is a more flexible development environment than the DAP environment,
but you are likely to spend more time developing code.

Regarding the number of users for web work, you have your choice of using
the Jet or MSDE database managers (unless, of course, you rather move up to
SQL Server, which you can also manage with Access).  Jet is the standard
file/server database for Access.  MSDE is the free version of SQL Server
that ships with Access as part of Office.  Microsoft programmed MSDE so that
performance starts to degrade after around 5 concurrent users, but I have
heard folks report satisfactory performance with as many as 40 users.
Again, I think it depends on what users do with the database, how you
program their access, and the power of the computers.  For example, MSDE
supports up to 2 concurrent processors.  Jet supports just one processor,
but it will run faster on a processor with a higher clock speed.

You can develop web applications for either database manager with Access and
DAPs or ASPs.  I also recommend using a Microsoft web server, such as IIS or
Personal Web Manager.  The upper limit of the number of users your solution
can serve will depend on all the choices you make.  Remember, however, that
web connections are stateless.  This means that your web clients can put a
lighter load on a database than your LAN clients.  Therefore, your upper
limit for the number of users is higher with a web solution than a LAN
solution.  In fact, you could achieve a dramatically higher number of users
with a web-based solution.

My Professional SQL Server Development with Access 2000 book includes three
chapters on web development.  One focuses on publishing datasheets to a web
site, and it includes some introductory samples on ASP development.  The
second chapter drills down on ASP development for custom forms.  The third
chapter focuses on DAPs and related technologies, such as PivotLists.  While
this book focuses on SQL Server and MSDE, the web techniques will work with
a Jet database manager as well.  In addition, I have another book titled
Programming Microsoft Access 2000.  This book includes a web development
chapter that highlights web development solutions for the Jet database
manager.  You can find out more about either book from
www.programmingmsaccess.com/thebook/.

I hope you find this reply helpful.

Rick Dobson
www.programmingmsaccess.com
www.cabinc.net
rickd@c... <mailto:rickd@c...>



-----Original Message-----
From: Ivan +AFs-mailto:ivanv+AEA-waldonet.net.mt+AF0-
Sent: 22 March 2001 18:14
To: ASP Databases
Subject: +AFs-asp+AF8-databases+AF0- How many users at a time access accepts


can someone tell me how many users at a time Ms Access accepts.  I have
heard 255 but in reality is this real, or at-least in ASP.

Is ms Fox-Pro better than access for web development?

Thanks


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