Many comments on this one if possible.

The place I work for is a large corporation; the
licensing of the software has to be spot on. They are
too tight to pay for Microsoft access on every machine
and because of its synchronisation and replication system
they choose to use Lotus Notes domino for communication
and database purposes. I don't know Lotus Script. They
use excel for on sheet data manipulation. Word is also
licensed on the machines. I have been thinking that if I
would like to come up to a solution to the problems in my
area I need an Access database. I cannot have money to
do this though. Could I set up excel as a database with
combo boxes for selection and entry on one sheet and
predefined cells for data on another. I could use word
for reporting. I could write sql statements to run
queries if the data was in a regular order.

Am I right in what I am thinking?

Sure it's possible. It is also possible to build a barn using a butter knife
instead of a saw. It takes longer and there will be a lot more tradeoffs, but
it can be done. Even with only one license (on your machine of course) for
Access you can allow everyone to read and write to a database via ADO
recordsets. This is what my company does and it is very effective. What you
are proposing will run you into concurency issues and a whole host of other
difficulties which will cost the company far in excess of the value of the
software. Sometimes saving money is very expensive in the long run (and I am
an accountant).

HTH

"Pete" wrote:

Many comments on this one if possible.

The place I work for is a large corporation; the
licensing of the software has to be spot on. They are
too tight to pay for Microsoft access on every machine
and because of its synchronisation and replication system
they choose to use Lotus Notes domino for communication
and database purposes. I don't know Lotus Script. They
use excel for on sheet data manipulation. Word is also
licensed on the machines. I have been thinking that if I
would like to come up to a solution to the problems in my
area I need an Access database. I cannot have money to
do this though. Could I set up excel as a database with
combo boxes for selection and entry on one sheet and
predefined cells for data on another. I could use word
for reporting. I could write sql statements to run
queries if the data was in a regular order.

Am I right in what I am thinking?

Jim Thomlinson wrote:

Even with only one license (on your machine of course) for
Access you can allow everyone to read and write to a database via ADO

recordsets.

If you have ADO, you don't need to have even a single licence to
create, maintain and use an .mdb file and its associated Jet database.
The .mdb format is also freely distributable.

[I think you would run into problems if tried to market an MS
Access-style front end for the .mdb format, though. I think I've seen a
specific banning clause to that effect in the licensing agreement to,
IIRC, a stand-alone version of VB.NET.]

In order to create and maintain database schema and user security
without the GUI tools MS Access provides, you will need to be
proficient in Jet SQL DDL (Data Definition Language) and/or ADOX. I
prefer to use DDL so here's a couple of links:

Intermediate Microsoft Jet SQL
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...l/acintsql.asp

Advanced Microsoft Jet SQL
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...l/acadvsql.asp

You probably need to use ADOX to initially create the .mdb:

Creating an Access (sic) Database
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...ssdatabase.asp

Sure it's possible. It is also possible to build a barn using a
butter knife
instead of a saw.
It takes longer and there will be a lot more tradeoffs, but
it can be done.

I disagree. I can type and execute a SQL DDL script faster than I can
navigate the menus, dialogs and wizards of the MS Access UI. And,
unlike mouse moves and clicks, a script is repeatable: if there is an
issue I can tweak the script, DROP the objects (or Kill and recreate
the file) and re-run the script. Unless you are using Access2003 in
ANSI-92 mode, some of the Jet 4.0 features, such as CHECK constraints
and FOREIGN KEYs that cascade to null, are inaccessible in the MS
Access UI, necessitating the use of ADO anyhow.

Jamie.

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