access on an ipad? (1 Viewer)

Cowboy_BeBa

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Hi all

Recently ive been put in charge of running a commercial bakery thats owned by the company i work for

not my usual field of work (im their local db admin), but they needed someone familiar with the operations to take over from the old manager ASAP and i was the only one who could do it

previously stocktake and production was all done by hand
im whipping up a quicky access db to act as a basic MRP solution and plan to run it in our main offices server. Will have to sort out a VPN from the bakery to access it (though i do have a web server available, so might look into deploying the back end there, but not sure if its even possible to connect a front end to a back end stored on a web server)

anyways while this is a good solution id like to experiment with using an ipad to do basic tasks like stock taking and perhaps even production (they only do one batch at a time so basically id be at the mixer marking off ingredients and entering batch codes/expiration dates on the ipad as i mixed)

Looking at "Pocket Access" to run it, but am not sure if it is capable of connecting to a back end on a remote server

does anyone have any experience with it? or are there any other apps i could use for the ipad that might accomplish what im after (dont mind spending a bit of money if it does what its meant to)

https://itunes.apple.com/au/app/poc...pad&preserveScrollPosition=true#platform/ipad
 

isladogs

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Not a direct answer to your question but I'm typing this on a Link 1010 Windows tablet on which I have installed Access 2010. The tablet also has a detachable keyboard though its on screen keyboard is fine

Access works perfectly on this tablet and I have designed several Access apps for tablets
 

Cronk

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I do not use an ipad but I was curious enough to search
"run ms access on ipad"
and it appears there is software which can be installed to enable Office programs, including Access to run.
 

The_Doc_Man

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The ONLY fly in this ointment is assuring a steady connection, since Access uses the Windows file transfer protocol called SMB (Server Message Block). This protocol is part of the TCP group of TCP/IP and thus has sequence numbering and negotiated port numbers. This combination of properties means if it breaks in mid-stream, whatever was being touched by that data stream is half-updated and could become corrupted because there is no auto-reconnect feature (that I recall) for SMB connections.

If your connection seems unstable, that should not become your long-term solution.
 

isladogs

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Not sure how it would work on an iPad, but I'm using access on my windows tablet where all database files are stored on the tablet. That works fine.

I have experimented with test BE databases stored on my desktop and using a wifi connection. I've only done this for test db and wouldn't dream of using it in a real life situation due to likelihood of corruption.

It is pure luck that none of those tests resulted in corruption even when I deliberately switched off the WiFi whilst the fe was open
 

Pat Hartman

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I wouldn't plan on using an iPad to run Access. The rest of Office can run in a browser but not Access. Besides, Access is intended to run on a LAN not a WAN so even if you could run it, it would be abysmally slow.

I don't know if there is a Citrix or RDP client for the iPad but if there is, those would be viable options since the app runs on the Citrix or RDP server so data isn't transferred over the internet. Only keystrokes and pictures of the desktop are transferred.
 

CJ_London

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have you looked at Jump Desktop, Teamviewer or similar?. I access my work pc (which is running access/excel etc) from my iPhone via both of these
 

Mark_

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From a design stand point, you may want to avoid using WiFi for connecting.

Rather than updating the back end while "Working", you may want to update temp tables on the tablet then connect using a USB adapter to your network. From there you would update your real back end with the days progress using update queries.

This would avoid the issue with WiFi and may meet your needs without exposing your back end to corruption issues.

As you are documenting real inventory in/use, you won't have most of the problems with inventory management for sales.
 

Pat Hartman

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If you are using one of the options suggested by CJ, wireless isn't an issue since the app is running on the server and not on the iPad so data isn't passing back and forth.

It is the connection between the FE and BE that MUST be stable and WiFi is not stable enough to be safe.
 

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