Can you by any chance explain why it is that
"not many experts will work with Data Access Pages"?
It's not a productive use of their time, skills or patience.
It looks to me like
even those few giving help on the data access page newsgroup are not
actually
themselves using Access' interfaces.
Agreed. However, they feel that their experience and expertise in Access,
database, and Web technologies may help you solve the problems you're having
with Data Access Pages, even though they don't use the same tool as you are
using for distributed data access.
Is it because data access pages don't work?
It's a matter of using the correct tool for the job. Data Access Pages were
originally intended for simple Web browser displays of the data stored in a
Jet database file. For this, Data Access Pages work just fine. However,
customizing the Data Access Pages will quickly reveal how difficult or
time-consuming it is to extend the basic functionality of these Web pages.
There are better tools available for building Web pages whenever these Web
pages need to be more complex than static displays of data.
Or because real experts and developers are already using something that
works much better? Because they are all coding in multiple languages,
etc.?
Database technologies and Web technologies use different skill sets and
different programming languages, which is why people tend to specialize in
one or the other, but not both. (Most experts became experts by
specializing and focusing their efforts on a single technology and how other
technologies can be used to facilitate their main specialty.) Expert Access
developers tend to let experts in building Web sites build those Web sites
with their own tools and languages of choice, because it's usually a more
efficient division of labor. You can be assured that those expert Web site
developers aren't using Data Access Pages -- unless it's mandated by the
customer. And most customers are wise enough to ask, "In your expert
opinion, what do you suggest are the best solutions for our needs?"
I am trying to figure out whether I should just ditch this part of
the project and let non-Access people just continue to access data by
their
current method--phone or email someone who can access the data.
Admittedly, that's an inefficient use of resources for certain workers to
contact other workers who have access to the data, but you'll need to
calculate the break-even point. What amount of time savings (i.e., cost
avoidance) would make it worth your while to develop a Web solution for
universal access to the data, and how much would it cost (in actual labor
costs and "opportunity costs" -- all the other projects that could increase
productivity, reduce costs or avoid costs which can't be implemented while
you work on this project could be enormous) to do so? If a worker doesn't
have the expertise for a certain technology, then it's often cheaper to hire
an expert in that technology because the opportunity costs of using the
worker for a task who must first learn to do this task are far higher than
the salary of the IT expert, and the solution will be produced much faster
and is more likely to "get done right the first time" (as long as the IT
expert isn't hired based on lowest cost per hour, because those are the
inexperienced ones who take the longest to produce the solution, _if_ they
produce a solution that doesn't have to be replaced by a workable solution
developed by someone who knows what he's doing).
HTH.
Gunny
See
http://www.QBuilt.com for all your database needs.
See
http://www.Access.QBuilt.com for Microsoft Access tips and tutorials.
See
http://www.Access.QBuilt.com/html/expert_contributors2.html for contact
info.
