Building a Web App? (1 Viewer)

Hi

I'm totally new to Access (no hands on system development background and still waiting for my copy of MS Access for Dummies to arrive). But I'm retired from a lifelong career in IT (business process, design and project management), am prepared to commit to putting in a good deal of effort to learn and hope/expect that I will have a reasonable aptitude.

I am actively involved in my sailing club and have been setting handicaps for their Sunday pursuit races. Although there are a number of off-the-self systems around none of them provide the level of functionality I would like to have available for this type of racing. I've been using Excel in which I have had a good deal of experience but its complexities and limitations lead to problems when I go away. Many members don't have appropriate skills and there is a risk that those that do will unwittingly corrupt data, make mistakes etc.

I have Windows 8.1 and MS Office 365 Home Premium and I am concerned that developing a system for stand alone use in Access will not make it easier to manage races and set handicaps when I am away:
* Few or no members will have a computer with Windows 8
* A stand alone system won't be accessible

My first questions relate to developing a system in Access for use by club members over the web. Upon review I saw on a web site that:
* I will need to use SharePoint and that the Office 365 Home Premium doesn't provide this
* Not all Access functionality is available over the web

Given my as yet undeveloped Access skills I am coming to you experienced folk for assistance:
* Do I need to upgrade / subscribe so that I can use SharePoint and is it expensive?
* Will I be able develop a reasonable system without full functionality? I should state here that it has been my intention to develop general database skills rather than becoming a fully fledged programmer

I would be very interested to hear back on these matters

Thanking you in advance
Solar Paul

Hi,

Good questions concerning Access Services where you can create Access 2013 web apps. I'll try to answer them below.

My first questions relate to developing a system in Access for use by club members over the web. Upon review I saw on a web site that:
* I will need to use SharePoint and that the Office 365 Home Premium doesn't provide this

Click to expand...

I believe that is correct. I think for Access Services you need a Small Business plan or an Enterprise level Office 365 plan.

* Not all Access functionality is available over the web

Click to expand...

That is correct. However, you mentioned you are very new to Access so you don't have all of the background on what features Access desktop databases contain. Also, you can use an Access desktop database to link to the SQL Server tables of the Access web app and have the full functionality of the client to extend the application if needed. The Access web app features though might provide all of the functionality you need and with a browser interface, it can be used easily across devices, across platforms, and across different browsers.

Given my as yet undeveloped Access skills I am coming to you experienced folk for assistance:
* Do I need to upgrade / subscribe so that I can use SharePoint and is it expensive?

Click to expand...

In order to use Access Services on Office 365, I believe you need a Small Business plan or Enterprise plan. There are many tiers of pricing and features available. A lot depends on how many users of this web app you anticipate. How many do you envision? Will they all need to read/write data or will some only be needed to read data?

Will I be able develop a reasonable system without full functionality? I should state here that it has been my intention to develop general database skills rather than becoming a fully fledged programmer

Click to expand...

At the moment I cannot speculate because "reasonable" is very subjective. It all depends on what you want and need the web app to do. If you can provide more detailed information concerning features, I can offer a more well rounded answer to that question.

On a side note.....

still waiting for my copy of MS Access for Dummies to arrive).

Click to expand...

I would be very, very surprised to see if that particular book includes any discussion around Access 2013 web apps.

--------------------
Jeff Conrad - Access Junkie - MVP Alumnus
Senior SDET - Access Test Team - Microsoft Corporation

Author - Microsoft Access 2013 Inside Out
Author - Microsoft Access 2010 Inside Out
Co-author - Microsoft Office Access 2007 Inside Out
Access 2007/2010/2013 Info: http://www.AccessJunkie.com

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Thanks for your detailed response. Things have changed a little since my original post. It looks like the club will host the database in-house and make the system available over wifi for local use and a wide area network using RDP for remote access. So for now we will be building the database as a desktop version. Whew - One step at a time as i'm finding learning Access is a big undertaking!

I do have some other questions but as they don't relate to this topic i will post them separately

Cheers