Access or SQL

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Helpneed

Hello all
A new database was developped for multi-users, with some
restrictions on the entrance and retreival of data between
them , i.e some users will be allowed to enter/retrieve
certain data, while other others will enter or retrieve
other data, with the purpose that no same data will be
entered twice by two different users and some users are
not allowed to look at confidential data.
The original source used to develop this database was an
access 2000 database, the forms for data entry were
developped in visual basic 6.
Question: is it more practical to have the finished
database in MSAccess ,(to give the users freedom to use
all facilities provided by Access) or it is not possible
because Access is for stand alone database, and SQL
should be used and all types of queries and reports should
be programmed.
I hope my question is clear.
Thanks in advance
 
It helps if you think of Access as a tool for creating databases and
database applications, and distinguish it from Jet, the database engine
which is installed along with Access and works mostly out of sight. If
your database is in an MDB file, you are using Jet.

Both Visual Basic or Access can be used to create database applications.
Both of them can work either with the Jet database engine, or with SQL
Server (or MSDE, which is a "lite" version of SQL server supplied with
recent versions of Access), or with many other data sources. Access
databases are inherently multi-user.

In general it's much easier and quicker to create a database application
with Access than with VB. In particular, Access's forms and reports are
specialised to work with data sources. On the other hand, VB allows you
more flexibility in designing the user interface (but involves much more
work).

Where factors such as the number of users, data security, and so on come
into play is in the choice of the "back end", the database engine. Jet
is fine for small numbers of simultaneous users (say 5 to 50, depending
on what they are doing, how fast the network is, and other factors) and
moderate amounts of data (a few hundred megabytes). For larger numbers,
gigabytes of data, or where reliability, security and data integrity are
vital, the case for SQL server gets stronger. But either way you can use
Access for the "front end".
 
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