Advice on client/server app, early vs. late binding (SQL Backend) 1

[storm75m]

I've been developing Access programs for a few years now, and in all of my forms/subforms/controls, I've always simply created a form that was bound to a recordsource like a table or query, pretty much by using the wizards and modifying the end result. I've created many complex forms with subforms etc. from scratch, but all of the underlying data was always setup at design time.

Well I'm starting a brand new project, this time the database is SQL server, and I would like to acheive the best response time possible. I'm going to have one major form with a multi-tab control with many pages, and several subforms, and combo boxes, etc. (This one form will be the single user interface for about 20 tables) I am a little concerned about how long this form would take to load, if I create the form the same way I have been.

I've seen some forms where the OnLoad even connects to a separate database, changes the RecordSource property, and then modifies the RecordSource property for each control on the screen. I guess my question is, is this worth all of the extra work? And if I am creating one big form with a multi-tab control, when should I perform the binding of the controls, when the entire form loads or as the user moves from one tab to another? I consider myself an experienced Access Developer, however I've never done it this way before, so I'm trying to understand how this works. I also hear that Access now has something called an "Access Project" which is more suitable for client/server development, but would I still need to do all of the run-time binding stuff? Geez, putting my thoughts in writting probably just confused me more... If anyone could give me some advice to get me started in the right direction it would be greatly appreciated... thanks so much geniuses!

 

[Sindo]

Hi storm75m,

I used to do exactly what you do now but moved over to Access/SQL 2000 about three years ago and we are now virtualy 100% VB/SQL 2000.

Firstly yes there is a performance gain to be had by 'late' binding and pulling data directly from SQL, especially if you are using stored procedures on SQL to pull back specific data when the user looks at say a particular tab. The only downside is that it takes longer to load and because the controls are unbound you also have to write code to save any changed data. If you are linking to multiple tables, you'd be best to create a view or vies in sql and then loads those in.

The other plus in doing this way is that you will be learning more about programming and so it will be easier to ditch access completly and go to VB, which again has a performance boost.

Hope this helps.

Sindo