A03 front end with text file back end issues

[Maver1ck666]

I want to build an access 03 database which will need to be distributed to
over 200 users but have experienced issues in the past when an access backend
is used for this many users (speed issues and the database becomes very
unstable and constantly crashes out).

What I want to do instead this time is to use a text file as a back end
instead of another database file but access seems to lock the file so only 1
person has access to it at a time which kind of defeats the object. I have
turned off the 'Open databases using record-level locking' which has made no
difference.

I have sucessfully managed to do this using Excel as a front end and used
some VBA to write to the text file which works fine but isn't ideal as I dont
have the benefits of rolling the excel front end out like you can with an
access package/msi.

Can anyone help please? Is this even possible?

Kind regards,
Maver1ck666

 

[Tom van Stiphout]

On Mon, 3 Dec 2007 02:20:00 -0800, Maver1ck666

With that number of users you will be better off with a SQL Server
back-end. The text file would be imported into a table.

But likely you did not mean 200 CONCURRENT users, which is all that
matters. Users who are idle don't count (except for Access hard limit
of 254 total users). If well-built, Access should be able to handle
several dozen concurrent users. Again, importing the text file will be
important.

-Tom.

 

[Maver1ck666]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the reply.

Would love to go SQL but my company are too tight to let us have it so we
have to resort to using plain old Access (or on other occasions, Excel eek).

I do mean 200 concurrent users who will all be writting records all of the
time.

Mav

 

[Ron2006]

Are they always only adding records?


Ron

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

Would love to go SQL but my company are too tight to let us have it so we
have to resort to using plain old Access (or on other occasions, Excel eek).

MSDE, SQL Server Express is free.

I do mean 200 concurrent users who will all be writting records all of the
time.

200 concurrent users and they're too tight? Time to go looking for
a new job.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

 

[Maver1ck666]

Hehe, aint that the truth!

There are over 1000 users in my company but because Im not actually classed
as IT, they wont allow us to have SQL as they cannot justify the cost (of
setting up environments on the servers, their time to support etc). However,
they wont employ us either as they wont support Access developments
theirselves. So Im one of the guys who builds ths systems the IT department
wont.

Ron, yes, they will only ever be writing records, nothing else.

 

[Ron2006]

If they are only going to be adding records, Then write the FE part of
the application to have a local table that holds all of the records
that they create and then have a button/procedure to append them to
the main table and deleted from the local table. Depending on how many
records that is that could be done periodically during the day or
some schedule could be arranged.

Ron