Category Archives: Access Developer

5 Unconventional Ways Microsoft Access Can Power Your Business

Posted on December 10, 2015 by admin

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Since it’s inception, Microsoft Access has been the go-to database for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Not surprisingly, as Access’s features and cloud capability have rapidly expanded over the years, so too have the different ways the technology is used. Here are a few of our favorites:

1. Employee Training

There are few things more valuable to a business than properly onboarding and training new employees. While for most companies the ROI on hiring and app developer for a training application wouldn’t be high enough to justify the cost, building them in house is an appealing option. And as the company’s hiring scales, moving the backend of the app to a server like Microsoft SQL Server will be a low-cost way to scale your training app with it.

2. Customer Relationship Management

For many small businesses, CRMs like Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics are either too expensive or too cumbersome to implement. However, having accurate, up-to-date customer and prospect information is crucial to running client-facing departments . As an MS Access user, it’s more than likely that much of this data already exists there. By standardizing this information and creating relational tables for objects like leads and deals, you too can have a CRM without the cost and learning curve.

3. Displaying Access to Data

While we’re on the subject of prospects and customers, many of them will want to access some of the data that you store in your web database – for example, recent invoices or the date of their next appointment. You can easily deliver this data easily by offering them a form they can fill out on your site. ASP.NET forms can query a Microsoft Access online database directly, so by implementing them on your site, you can surface this data to your customers with limited effort from your developers.

4. Business Intelligence

If you’re like many, you’re using an endless string of VLOOKUPs in Excel to report on related data from different tables or sources. This is really a job for Microsoft Access’ relational tables. Built on top of Microsoft’s Jet Database Engine, you can use these powerful tools to easily create queries that quite literally fly.

5. Development Waterfalls

If you’re in software development, one common practice you’re likely familiar with is creating waterfall models to manage the progress of an application. Since you may be creating an application that leverages Access or SQL Servers as your backend, why not keep track of your app’s progress there as well?

These are just a few of many ideas for uses for MS Access – the beauty of the software is that it’s uses are really only limited to the imagination<.

Posted in Access 2010, Access 2013, Access 2016, Access Developer, blog, SQL Hosting, SQL Server 2012 | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Finding the right Hosting Solution for you Access Database

Posted on June 23, 2015 by admin

How do you know if you need Sharepoint, SQL or Remote Desktop for your MS Access Database? This is one of the most common questions we get here at Access Hosting and it’s not an easy one to answer since every customer’s online functionality goals, Access application and development skills are different.  In this blog post, I’m hoping to at least steer you in the right direction when it comes to getting your Access Database online.

What version of Access are you running? AKA assess your situation

This is one of the first questions that you may be asked by one of our sales associates.  The reason is that it can tell us a lot about your situation and road blocks moving forward.  If you’re running a Database in Access 2007 that has been around even longer, you’re going to have a really hard time jumping to SharePoint.  Does your MS Access application run Visual Basic code (VBA)? If it does you have a pretty complicated application that is completely incompatible with Sharepoint and web forms.

The most common roadblock we see is Access Developers coming in with a complicated and highly customized Access Application.  They’ve heard of SharePoint with Access Services, Web forms, Access 2013 Web Apps and Office 365 and they think they can easily move their application to the SharePoint cloud.  Wrong! Both Access Services 2010 and Access Services 2013 have very strict requirements to make a database web compatible.  If you have an older database or have VBA code, you have a lot of development work ahead and potentially a lot of functionality loss if you want to move to SharePoint.

Cut down on the Development Work!

These difficulties in moving your Access database to SharePoint are why Access Hosting expanded to offer other solutions for hosting web databases.  If you’re looking to host your complex access app in the browser and utilize all of your VBA forms, queries etc, Remote Desktop hosting is a great solution for you since it simulates the local Windows Desktop Environment that you have been using with your application AND allows for multiple concurrent users and the ability to connect to your Access application from any device. The best part is that you can leave your Access Application completely as it is and get it up and running on our private cloud in just a few minutes.  We offer a free 30 day trial for anyone who wants to give it a spin and have very competitive dedicated plans that can be customized to your business needs.

The downside to RDP hosting is that it can be expensive for a lot of users (especially if you don’t move to a dedicated server where there are cost savings) since we are licensing Windows, Microsoft Office and MS Access for each and every user.  If you already have Microsoft Access installed on the computers of people that need access to your Access Application, you may just opt to move all of your data to our SQL hosting.  For $49/month you can upload your database and have an unlimited number of Access users connect to the same backend SQL data.  All of your client forms, reports and VBA code still work locally on the desktop but your data is synced to our service so that everyone is working from the same records.

But I want Web Forms and a Web App!

SharePoint is still a great solution for a lot of Access Apps and if you have a more modern database (Access 2010 or 2013) that is web compatible, it is easy to publish to SharePoint or start creating an Access 2013 web app.  Deciding between Access Services 2010 and 2013 can be difficult though because you need to ask yourself what functionality is paramount to your application.  Check back to our blog later to learn more about the differences between SharePoint 2010 Access Services and SharePoint 2013 Access Web Apps.

 

Posted in Access 2007, Access 2010, Access 2013, Access Developer | Leave a comment

How to connect to your Access Web App

Posted on May 15, 2015 by admin

If you are using our Sharepoint 2010/2013 Enterprise Solution with Access Services you have the ability to publish your web database to Access Services 2010 or create an Access 2013 Web App in Sharepoint. The problem with SharePoint 2013 Web Apps is that you cannot create and run reports on your data in the browser (like in 2010). The solution is to create a desktop Access frontend that connects to your webapp’s data.  Here is how you connect to your MS Access 2013 Web App with Access Hosting.

How to Report on your Access Web App from MS Access:

1. Go to your Web App in Sharepoint (on accessontheweb.com) and click the “customize in Access” button to download an accdw file.

2. Open and log into your web app by opening the accdw file downloaded from your Access Hosting Sharepoint site.

3. Go to File->Connections (be sure that Read-Only Connection is checked) and click on Manage->View Read-Only Connection information.  Make a note of all the connection data.

readonly connection

4. Be sure to record all of the data shown in this connection information

sql server connection information

5. Under Report on My Data, click the create reports button

connectSP1

6. This will prompt you to create a new access frontend file.  Name the file and save.

7. The connection will fail because the server name is not a valid web location – so you will be prompted for the SQL connection information.  Change ahcombo1 to your Sharepoint site collection url WITHOUT http:// (i.e. example.accessontheweb.com)

frontend

8. A new access file should open that acts as you frontend to your Access 2013 Web App.  You can use this frontend to create reports and other frontend forms and tools!

Sign-up for a Free Sharepoint Access 2013 Web App Trial to try it yourself!

Connecting to your Access Web App with SQL Management Studio:

You can use the power of MS Access Services 2013 and Sharepoint to connect to your backend MS Access Web App directly using SQL Server Management Studio.  Watch the video above or try the more detailed steps outlined below for an ODBC connection.

1. Go to your Web App in Sharepoint (on accessontheweb.com) and click the “customize in Access” button to download an accdw file.

2. Open and log into your web app by opening the accdw file downloaded from your Access Hosting Sharepoint site.

3.  Under Connections, Click Manage and Select Enable Read-Write Permissions. (Note – If you select Enable Read Write Permissions again, you will disable Read-Write Permissions. When you turn on Read Write Permissions again in the future, the password will change.)

access view read-write connection

4.  Once Read-Write Permissions are Enabled, click the Manage button again and select View Read-Write Connection Information and the below dialog box will pop up. You will need to reference the permissions below to setup the ODBC connection.  Note the connection information and copy over to notepad.

password info

5. If you don’t already have SQL Native Client 11.0 Driver, you’ll need to download and install them.  Install and SQL Native Client 11.0 driver from Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP1 Feature Pack. Don’t download the entire package, you only need on file which is the sqlncli.msi. You can download the file here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35580.

6. Once downloaded, double click the file to install the SQL Native Client 11.0 driver.

7. To create the ODBC connection, launch ODBC Data Source Administrator by clicking your Windows start button and search for ODBC.  Select the Data Sources (ODBC) file that comes up.

add a new odbc data source

8. Click on Add to create a new data source.  Select SQL Server Native Client 11.0 and then click finish.

create a new sql data source

9. Enter Any Name and Description to describe your ODBC connection. For the Server enter the domain of your Access Hosting SharePoint site but DO NOT enter the http:// (so enter something like example.accessontheweb.com). Click Next.

ms web database information

10. Reference the View Read-Write Connection data that you pasted into Notepad from your Access Web App earlier.  Enter the User Name information in the Login ID and the Password in the Password field and click next.

sql server dsn configuration

11. Check the box Change the default database to and enter the Database Name from the View Read-Write Connection Information from your Web App and click next. Click Finish.

sql server 2012 configuration

Sign-up for a Free Sharepoint Access 2013 Web App Trial to try it yourself!

Posted in Access 2013, Access Developer, SharePoint 2013, Tips & Tricks, Video Tutorial | Leave a comment

Take advantage of Access Hosting’s new Affiliate Partner program

Posted on March 3, 2015 by admin

Take advantage of high customer satisfaction while enjoying recurring revenue streams through Access Hosting’s new Affiliate Partner program.  Begins March 15, 2015!

Interested in providing the best Access software hosting customer support? We are seeking new relationships to a select group of qualified partner’s to help you help your customers.

The Affiliate Referral model opportunity has a set of core requirements designed to closely align with customer needs. For each opportunity, your company must fulfill these minimum requirements. When you join the Access Hosting Affiliate Partner Program, you receive a set of core benefits that can help you save time and make money while better serving your customers business needs. All memberships will go through a formal review process.

IT Vendor’s are under increasing pressure to deliver attractive Access, SharePoint, SQL and custom hosting solutions for smaller customers who find it difficult to support their on premise hardware and software needs.  At Access Hosting we have a proven track record of high customer satisfaction, providing best of breed security and speed to market to move your Access database to the web.  This Affiliate program will help partner’s broaden their product offerings and have alternative revenue streams.

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Posted in Access Developer, Reseller | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment