Multi-user environment

K

Kristi_O

I am having problems with a recently converted database.
I recently converted all of our Access 97 Databases to
Access XP. I also updated everyone's systems with Office
XP. We are now having problems with multiple users in the
database. We never had this before with Access 97. I
understand that I probably need to split the database into
a frontend and a backend. The problem is, we are
constantly updating our database (it is used on a
manufacturing floor). Do I need to have the frontend on
everyone's computer separate? Or, can I link to the
frontend on a server? If I cannot link, we will be
constantly having to update everyone's front end. Is
there an easy solution to this? Thanks for any help with
this!

Kristi
 
J

John Nurick

Hi Kristi,

You need to have a separate copy of the front end on every workstation,
but keeping them up to date is not a problem.

One way is to store the front end on the server and copy it to the
workstation every time it is launched. It's easy to set up a batch file
to do this, with a couple of lines like this:

COPY "\\SERVER\SHARE\Folder\FrontEnd.mdb" "C:\Program Files\Folder"
MSACCESS "C:\Program Files\Folder\FrontEnd.mdb"
/wrkgrp"\\SERVER\Share\Folder\OurWrkgrp.mdw"

Then put a shortcut to the batch file on the users' desktops or start
menus. Doing it this way ensures that users always have a clean copy of
the latest version of the front end.

A more sophisticated and flexible way, which only downloads the front
end when a new version is posted on the server, is to use Tony Toews's
Auto FE Updater at http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
 
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