M
Mark Olbert
I've read quite a few posts about the lack of Access design support for Sql Server 2005, but have a few questions.
My understanding is that no current version of Access supports designing objects in SqlSever 2005 (as an aside, if this is true it
is a cock-up of truly monumental proportions by Microsoft, both in terms of the basic problem -- incompatibility -- and the stunning
lack of coordination between the Access and Sql Server marketing teams -- the SqlServer team should've flagged the incompatibility
as a major "breaker". And please don't give me the spin that "it's compatible, just not on the design side" -- compatible is
compatible, not sort of half compatible -- can you imagine how people would react if someone told them the back end to Excel
[assuming it had one] had changed and that they could look at their spreadsheets, and recalculate them, but not make any changes or
create any new ones?).
Not being able to design objects in an SqlServer 2005 database means I can't do ad hoc analyses, which require an ability to make,
view and tweak queries. So what does Microsoft recommend as the current best practice for ad hoc analyses using SqlServer 2005
databases?
I am quite conversant with .NET, C# and Visual Studio 2005, and somewhat familiar with SqlServer Business Intelligence Development
Studio and SqlServer Management Studio. From what I can see, none of those tools is a good ad hoc analysis platform (which is why I
kept using Access for SqlServer 2000 databases in the first place). You can do anything in .NET and C#, but writing programs to
answer ad hoc questions is more than a little ridiculous. Simlarly, you can do anything you want in Management Studio (and
Development Studio, which is essentially VS 2005 with some customizations), but it's not a good ad hoc analysis platform (for one
thing, unless I'm using Management Studio wrong, writing and executing queries is much less straightforward, not to mention slower,
than in Access using ADPs).
So how do I do my ad hoc analyses prior to 2007 when Office 2007 comes out?
- Mark
My understanding is that no current version of Access supports designing objects in SqlSever 2005 (as an aside, if this is true it
is a cock-up of truly monumental proportions by Microsoft, both in terms of the basic problem -- incompatibility -- and the stunning
lack of coordination between the Access and Sql Server marketing teams -- the SqlServer team should've flagged the incompatibility
as a major "breaker". And please don't give me the spin that "it's compatible, just not on the design side" -- compatible is
compatible, not sort of half compatible -- can you imagine how people would react if someone told them the back end to Excel
[assuming it had one] had changed and that they could look at their spreadsheets, and recalculate them, but not make any changes or
create any new ones?).
Not being able to design objects in an SqlServer 2005 database means I can't do ad hoc analyses, which require an ability to make,
view and tweak queries. So what does Microsoft recommend as the current best practice for ad hoc analyses using SqlServer 2005
databases?
I am quite conversant with .NET, C# and Visual Studio 2005, and somewhat familiar with SqlServer Business Intelligence Development
Studio and SqlServer Management Studio. From what I can see, none of those tools is a good ad hoc analysis platform (which is why I
kept using Access for SqlServer 2000 databases in the first place). You can do anything in .NET and C#, but writing programs to
answer ad hoc questions is more than a little ridiculous. Simlarly, you can do anything you want in Management Studio (and
Development Studio, which is essentially VS 2005 with some customizations), but it's not a good ad hoc analysis platform (for one
thing, unless I'm using Management Studio wrong, writing and executing queries is much less straightforward, not to mention slower,
than in Access using ADPs).
So how do I do my ad hoc analyses prior to 2007 when Office 2007 comes out?
- Mark