Front-End for MS Access migration? [closed]

Question

Background

I work for a large organization which has thousands of MS Access applications floating around. I didn't write any of these - in fact, most of the original authors have long since left the company - but from time to time another Access app lands on my desk for support. I would soooo love to replace access with a different solution.

Requirement

I know that there are several good alternatives for the database part of MS Access (the Jet database), such as SQLite, MySQL, VistaDB, etc.

What I would like to know is: Is there anything that will replace the front end part of MS Access?

I.e. Something which can be used to build forms, write simple scripts and queries, etc?

Why?

@BracC asked "why replace access?" - A fair question indeed.
I want to get rid of access because:

• it hides logic, leading to hard-to-support applications. Logic can be in lots of different places, none of which provide or encourage any structure:
  • macros
  • modules
  • queries
  • forms
• its very nature encourages users to create "little" applications which become "not so little applications". Then the user leaves and I have to support a bunch of spaghetti. I know that access isn't the only culprit, but it's the leader in my organisation, and I would love to get rid of it completely.

For extra credit

what I would really love to find is something which can read in an MDB file and output something like C# which replicates the functionality. (Or any language - not fussy).

I hope this is all clear. If not, please post a comment and I'll re-write/add detail.

Update

@GuinnessFan makes some points I find interesting. I have added my comments to discuss those points.

What we have done since I asked the question:

• Got users to give us a definitive list of access applications they use and need. (The understanding is that any MDB files not on the list can be deleted - hooray!).
• Analysed the MDBs on the list, coming to the following conclusions:
  • Most of the "applications" consist of a single hard-coded query or a single linked table.
  • Many are a small number of queries with, perhaps, a date parameter or similar.
  • very few (if any) have any truly complex logic.
• We are now working through the list, converting most of the apps to SSRS (SQL Server Reporting Services) packages.
• Anything which can't be replicated using SSRS will become a hand-crafted web application. However, there aren't many of these.

May I say many thanks, to everybody who has given me helpful answers.

Answer 1

We used an internal app based on MS Access as a frontend to a MySQL database. We ran into lots of problems, and eventually rewrote the whole app in CodeGear Delphi 2007 for Win32. This has been a great success, although the migration did cost quite a lot of effort (training/hiring a couple of Delphi programmers, buying some third-party tools). I can wholeheartedly recommend Delphi, though. And AFAIK, integration with a MS Access back-end is certainly possible --- I once wrote a Delphi app that does just that, and it only cost me a couple of days to get a feature-complete version!

I realize this is a full programming solution, so you'd definitely loose some of the ease-of-use of MS Access for building front-ends. Then again, you can put together a database application in Delphi in 10 minutes without writing too much code --- no kidding! And since the 2009 release, the language is slowly becoming more mainstream again...

Answer 2

Microtools offers Access Whiz, a set of Access conversion tools. It consists of Access to ASP .NET (VB/C#) converters, Access to VB6 converter, Access to WinForms (VB .NET/C#) converters and Access to Crystal Reports converter. More information and trial demos can be found at http://www.microtools.us.

Answer 3

You could check out Oracle's Application Express. It's free and it's geared toward Access developers.

It has a migration assistant as well that you run your Access database through, it proccesses the data and the forms, migrates everything to an Oracle Database (this works with the free database, Oracle XE, and comes install by default) and builds web forms for your Access database.

So in the end you'll have your Access databases on the web, your data in Oracle and somewhat nice web front end for extending them.

As far as Oracle goes, the tool isn't half bad. You can sign up for a free instance to play around with here.

Here's the document that explains how you migrate Access Databases.

Answer 4

I have a different perspective for you to consider. Your main issue is that it hides logic and there is data and applications scattered through the organization.

Unfortunately I don't know of a RAD (rapid application development) tool that is as easy as Access to create functional forms.

However I would recommend that you focus more on the possibility of centeralizing your data and logic and still allow Access as a front end. I support a database product called Advantage Database Server which supports RI (refferential integrity) rules, stored procedures, triggers, etc. that can all be managed on a centeral server thus bringing all of the logic to you. These Access front-ends could then link to the data backend using ODBC or OLEDB. If you switched to a solution like this then later down the road you would have flexibility to write other applications such as .NET, PHP, JDBC, etc. that tie into the same data while phasing Access front-ends out.

A good start would be to stop new Access development unless they're using this sort of data backend.

Answer 5

You can also take a look at Firebird

Here is the way to migrate (you need Delphi)

I also find this MDB2FDB