SQL vs. MS Access
Dear readers,
I am new to VB2005 coming fromVB6 using only MS Access databases.
It seems that the obvious database type of choice is SQL. Are their any
problems using Access databases for an application that runs on a network,
storing multiple monetary transactions, and huge customer databases.
Also......
If I distribute my application using SQL databases, do I need to ship it with
an SQL server package such as SQL2005 or SQL Express, or can my application
be a standalone package creating and accessing SQL databases.
Thanks
MH
[603 byte] By [
Secsi] at [2007-12-24]
Traditionally MS Access has not been very good with multi-user updates, and you'll find that they very often go corrupt. If you really are talking about huge tables, then I would not recommend MS Access.
SQL Server based applications will need the SQL Server server application deployed to whichever machine will be the server, so you will need to re-distribute it with your application, or make it a pre-requisite.
If you use an appropriate installer, you should be able to include SQL Server re-distributables with your application and perform all the necessary config. Again if you are talking about huge databases, you'll need to be wary of the database limits imposed on Express editions of SQL server. A full bodied Standard/Enterprise SQL server will overcome these limitations.
You can find the datasheet here. The main limitations are a maximum database size of 4Gb, only 1Gb of addressable memory and it will only use on processor. So, depending on your definition of huge, this may be more than enough for your needs, and if you do hit the limit, it is simple to upgrade to a more sophisticated version of SQL Server.
If there is a choice between Access and SQL Express, my money is definately on the SQL Express side of the fence.
Best regards,
Johan Stenberg
