Access 2002 ... Database Vs Project - what's the difference

  • Thread starter Thread starter JulieD
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JulieD

Hi All

can someone give me a very quick overview of what the difference is between
a database and a project is in 2002 ... from what i can tell you use
databases if you want it to run in Access and projects if you want to
interface to SQL Server? is this correct?

Cheers
JulieD
 
Access 2002: Database:

This is the standard Access/Jet/.mdb file database arrangement.

Access 2002: Project:

Access stops connecting to and using Jet, and starts connecting to and
using SQL Server/MSDE.
 
You can use MDB (database) via ODBC with any ODBC-compliant server database,
including Microsoft SQL Server, as well as for single-user databases, as
well as for multi-user environments.

Conversely, you can use an ADP (project) with the ADODB data provider for
the Jet database engine, as well as for connecting to Microsoft SQL Server.

However, the most recent word from the knowledgeable Microsoft insiders is
that the MDB - Jet - ODBC - Server arrangement turns out to be better than
ADP - ADODB - SQL Server, and to have been so all through the hype about how
much better the ADPs were with server DBs.

I have personally worked on MDB - Jet - ODBC - server databases since the
days of Access 2.0, using various server databases (including Microsoft SQL
Server, Sybase SQL Server, Sybase SQL Anywhere, and Informix). The largest
of these had just under 200 users in a WAN environment; the smallest had
only a few users and was done with a server database for reasons of
reliability and recoverability.

I am currently doing some enhancement work on a client's ADP, and they are
generally happy with its performance.

I'd expect that developing a new Access project would take a bit longer for
comparable functionality simply because there seems to be more VBA code
involved. However, in the relatively few ADPs that I have examined, that may
have been more a matter of the original developer's mindset than of
necessity for an Access project. (I have also seen a few MDBs, over the
years, where there was far more code than actually was needed, too.)

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP
 
Hi Larry

so back then to my original question ... what is really the difference
between the two?

is it just a matter of prefered conectivity method or is it more than that?

Cheers
JulieD
PS (yet another thing i need to get my head around!)
 
The MDB (and its associated "compiled" form of MDE) is the original Access
approach. An MDB interfaces to the Jet database engine, which will have been
automatically installed along with Access or Office. You can install
appropriate ODBC drivers to allow you to link tables in any ODBC-compliant
database and use the Access MDB as a client.

The ADP was introduced with Access 2000 (but did not replace the MDB... it
is in addition to it). The ADP (and its associated "compiled" form of ADE)
uses an ADO data provider (often named ADODB) to access either a Jet
database or Microsoft SQL Server (but not other server databases).

My earlier point was that there are many similarities between the two, and
that there are those who are happy with each. My personal preference would
be to do new development using MDB and ODBC to create an Access client to a
server database (which need not be Microsoft SQL Server), but, as I work on
my client's ADP, I am not finding it to be as "foreign" as many had
indicated it might seem.

Sometimes it is said that the difference is that, with MDB, you use Data
Access Objects (DAO) code to access the data but with ADP, you use ActiveX
Data Objects (ADO). In fact, you can use ADO with an MDB. I haven't done so,
but with the proper references set, you may also be able to use DAO with an
ADP.

Thus, I can't really come up with a precise, concise description of the
differences, or of the conditions under which one should be chosen over the
other.

Perhaps someone with a bit more ADP experience will step in here and
clarify.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP
 
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