PCFormat Forum Archive

so, i want to go from using MS Access to using a custom front end and an SQL back end in an effort to prevent users having access to my VB code, and to prevent "Users in the know" from accessing tables directly. I believe SQL is better on the security side at preventing users from accessing tables directly. so my questions is, What is the easiest langauge to learn that will allow me to compile some form of front end and allow me to compile with little worry of someone being able to gain acces to or reverse engineer. I am pretty good at the MS Access VB stuff (All self taught with the help of 1 book and plenty websites) so i am not entirely new to coding. I just need something secure and easy to code in.

Why don't you want to use Access as your front end? That is what I do and it is really simple to manage.

Tribble wrote:Why don't you want to use Access as your front end? That is what I do and it is really simple to manage.

This is a trick question, right?

Mclaren wrote:so, i want to go from using MS Access to using a custom front end

But you can customise Access so that people are no longer aware that they are using Access. You can remove and change the menus etc. He already knows Access - so I want to know what problems he has with using it?

Oh ... right ... like I said ... trick question.

Mclaren wrote:I am pretty good at the MS Access VB stuff (All self taught with the help of 1 book and plenty websites) so i am not entirely new to coding. I just need something secure and easy to code in.

when it comes to RAD, you could do worse than java or, if you're comfortable with VB, .NET...

both have hordes of free tools available..

java+jtds will run on pretty much any platform you dump it on, with the typical JRE weighing in at around 10MB...

the C#/.VB.net approach to GUI development has always struck me as a little backward, never mind the delegate event model... and the current framework is yours for the measly download of +- 200MB

both are really easy to get up and running over ODBC/bridge or even a direct connection...

i like Access 2007, i really do, however since it no longer has built in security, anyone who nows what they are doing and whom are running a full version ms access can gain access to the back end.

now there are things i can do to make it difficult to get to the tables, but it means making the db very complicated. and running every form of a query etc. This is not ideal.

That sounds very strange. You can have SQL control who has access to the database and that controls MS Access.

i have not started to dabble with SQL as yet, so if what you are saying is true then that is fine. i just cannot have the back end in Access as it is unsecure.

Tribble wrote:That sounds very strange. You can have SQL control who has access to the database and that controls MS Access.

Hence you will need an installation of SQL Server in any case. Which means that you can just as well use SQL Server and get it over with. Despite the fact that SQL Server is 10x faster than MS Access there are tons of stuff you can do with it which you can't with MS Access.

Mclaren wrote:so, i want to go from using MS Access to using a custom front end and an SQL back end in an effort to prevent users having access to my VB code, and to prevent "Users in the know" from accessing tables directly. I believe SQL is better on the security side at preventing users from accessing tables directly. so my questions is, What is the easiest langauge to learn that will allow me to compile some form of front end and allow me to compile with little worry of someone being able to gain acces to or reverse engineer. I am pretty good at the MS Access VB stuff (All self taught with the help of 1 book and plenty websites) so i am not entirely new to coding. I just need something secure and easy to code in.

The easiest you will get at the moment is VB.Net as you should already know it from your scripting. Well to a certain degree in any case. I would however advise you to go C# since I like it more than VB and IMHO VB is a scripting toy. Much like ppl that think JavaScript is actually Java
So where to start. Get a copy of Visual Studio, which you probably already have, and create an application to interface with a SQL db of your own design. It really isn't that hard as Visual Studio does most of the DB stuff for you. I still prefer handling the database on my own terms and not using the Visual Studio's templates as they tend to be bulky. I managed to bring down the exe size of a C# app by about 6mb. Jip 6mb by writing my own classes for handling the db connections and tables rather than leaning on DataTables.

Tribble wrote:That sounds very strange. You can have SQL control who has access to the database and that controls MS Access.

Oh and who was it that had bunches of incompatibility issues with this approach. Hmm think it was either you or Jee. Must have been Jee though. Cant quite remember.

w=in varsity we did a project with an access db and a delphi front end.

Oh and have a read

http://www.quackit.com/microsoft_access ... server.cfm

http://www.mssqlcity.com/Articles/Compa ... access.htm

http://www.databasedev.co.uk/ms-access- ... erver.html

Point of the story. If you are going to have multiple users connect to the db at the same time DO NOT USE ACCESS. It is a Fail in that department of a serious note. Also it has bunches of other limitations.

GreyWolf wrote:w=in varsity we did a project with an access db and a delphi front end.

Possible but not my first choice. Even the dev version of SQL Server, which by the way is FREE for internal use, is better than Access

RuadRauFlessa wrote:

GreyWolf wrote:w=in varsity we did a project with an access db and a delphi front end.

Possible but not my first choice. Even the dev version of SQL Server, which by the way is FREE for internal use, is better than Access

true dat, but what about delphi as a front end development tool? I must admit this was almost 7 years ago, and am curious as to weather delphi is still in use?

GreyWolf wrote:

RuadRauFlessa wrote:

GreyWolf wrote:w=in varsity we did a project with an access db and a delphi front end.

Possible but not my first choice. Even the dev version of SQL Server, which by the way is FREE for internal use, is better than Access

true dat, but what about delphi as a front end development tool? I must admit this was almost 7 years ago, and am curious as to weather delphi is still in use?

Jip Delphi is still in use but C#,VB and Java are much easier to learn and pick up. Especially if he has done VB in any form. Delphi will just confuse. I have a couple of Delphi services running in our office at the moment. Actually ported one of them the other day as I got better performance from a C# service than from Delphi though.

RuadRauFlessa wrote:Delphi will just confuse.

delphi's threading model, (semaphores? ), is just flaky and, if my memory serves me well, you actually have to grab a separate connection pool module in order to re-use connections... <shudders>

rustypup wrote:

RuadRauFlessa wrote:Delphi will just confuse.

delphi's threading model, (semaphores? ), is just flaky and, if my memory serves me well, you actually have to grab a separate connection pool module in order to re-use connections... <shudders>

Yeah that was one of the problems
The app I had to redo is a clock for calculating Service Level Agreements on calls in real-time. Not an easy thing as it needs to be blisteringly fast. Thing ran in Delphi for about 20-30s seconds on our current db where the exact architecture ported to C# churned it out in under 0.6 sec Now that is what I call a significant difference.

Sorry for my absolute naivity, but, If i decide to go the C# way, what do i need to do to get started. and will i have to buy any software or is it all generally freely available ?

Mclaren wrote:Sorry for my absolute naivity, but, If i decide to go the C# way, what do i need to do to get started. and will i have to buy any software or is it all generally freely available ?

Depends. I know there is a free version of Visual Studio (Express) but I haven't read the EULA yet. I have a MSDN subscription so I don't bother with it. Also as far as I know the templates for the DataTables and such isn't included in the Express edition of VS. I would recommend not using the auto generated db classes in any case. They are bulky. If you need some db stuff in C# to get you started PM me and I will help you out with some easy to understand code.

http://www.microsoft.com/express/

IDE: SharpDevelop - free, gratis..
.NET: 190+MB - also for free...

rustypup wrote:IDE: SharpDevelop - free, gratis..
.NET: 190+MB - also for free...

Hmm I haven't checked that one out yet. Worth a look though.

GreyWolf, my hubby programs all his stuff in Delphi. Programs used by most of the large radio stations and they are all happy.

Tribble wrote:GreyWolf, my hubby programs all his stuff in Delphi. Programs used by most of the large radio stations and they are all happy.

yeah... delphi... now with added unicode - not that it took them all that long to achieve... you know... a few years or so, at the outside...