Re: Maintenance Recomendations -Compact?

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I was surprised to see that you intend to deliver a commercial
application. Yes, we senior citizens appreciate clear, understandable
buttons and other elements of the user interface. In my years of
developing applications, I've found that users of all ages do better
when things are clear and unambiguous at all levels.


Surprised because of my level of expertise or because of the stability and
limitations of Access? I'm actually a 25 year + veteran to programming and
technology. I just never had reason to use Access until it was a requirement
for a client. I wanted them to buy a commercial product for less than my
fees, but some won't listen to reason. At least their data is out of Excel
and into Access so they can go commercial later.

Given that you intend to flog your application to other users then I
recommend that you go through the process of splitting the database.
There are instructions in Access. If you don't split it then
maintenance becomes a nightmare. There are only two reasons for not
splitting an Access database: 1) It is so badly done that there will
never be users who request additional features and there is no intent
to fix outright bugs. 2) It is so perfectly done that it has
anticipated all future needs and there are no bugs at all. I've seen
lots of #1s and absolutely no #2s.


I am not an expert in Access by any means, and from what I have read, it
seems it is prone to corruption. Are there really that many problems with
Access? From what I understand, it is good for single user use and it becomes
less than ideal with multiuser, network access use. It seems that it is then
that it is more likely to become corrupt. The ERP DB design is a good, clean
design but it is not split. Right now I have just hidden all toolbars etc. to
limit command accessibility. I intend to lock things down some more when it
is ‘done’ and improve some efficiencies… I’ll consider a split.

My concerns are that once they have all the features they want, they will
not have anyone look at or maintain the system until it breaks. So whatever I
can do to increase its lifespan is what I am looking for. I am in the habit
of creating products or environments that don’t fail…ever… and don’t expect
to change because of Access’ limitations.

And I also believe in developing simple and clean on the front so that
anyone, senior or not, can use it. This office just has the youngest checking
in at 68 so the situation is a little more highlighted than usual.

They actually already have the beta version and haven’t managed to break it
yet.
Sorry for being too chatty.

.

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