Working with the Web

The topic of web databases in Access 2010 is a very broad subject-certainly not a topic we can fully cover in just one tutorial. In fact, a large portion of the Access development team at Microsoft worked solely on all the various features of web databases during the Access 2010 development cycle. The process of developing a web application is very much the same as developing a client application-you identify the tasks you want to accomplish with the application, chart the flow of tasks, identify the data elements, organize the data elements, design a user interface for the application, construct the application, and then test and refine the application.

This tutorial begins the discussion of developing a web database by starting with creating fields and tables-the foundation of your web application. We'll continue the discussion of creating a fully functional web database in subsequent tutorial. You'll learn how to create data macros and attach them to table events, create queries to pull out the data you need, create forms and reports that run in a web browser, and how to create macros to automate your web application.

Before we start the discussion of building tables for web databases, we should first discuss some terminology you'll be hearing throughout this tutorial. A web database (or web application) is a database that has web tables-tables that will successfully publish to a SharePoint server running Access Services. A web database must be in the .accdb file format and created in Access 2010 or later. A client database is a standard Access database with client tables that you've been working with for many Access releases. A client database can be in the .mdb or .accdb file format and can be created in Access 2010 or earlier versions.

A web database can have client objects, such as queries, forms, reports, macros, and modules, as well as web objects. Tables are the one exception to this rule. In a web database, you can only have web tables. The tables in a web database, also called the schema of the database, must be compatible with SharePoint server lists. You are allowed to have links to other data sources in a web database because they are not local tables. However, linked tables will not work in your web browser-you will not be able to use the data from those external data sources in your queries, forms, and reports that run in the browser. When a web database contains client objects as well as web objects, Microsoft uses the term hybrid application to describe this type of database.

It's important to note that you don't need a SharePoint server to use a web database in Access. You can use a web database in Access 2010 and never publish the database to a SharePoint server. The web database will function just fine in Access, and you can continue to modify the application as your needs grow. However, if you want to take advantage of all the extra features that publishing your web database to a server can offer, you'll need to set up a SharePoint server running Access Services within your business. If you are in a corporate domain, your IT department might already have a SharePoint server installed and running Access Services. You should check with your network administrator to see if this is the case. If you do not want to take the time and expense to setup and install a SharePoint server within your business, you can also use a third party that offers SharePoint hosting services. There are many third party companies, including Microsoft, that can host your Access Services applications.

When you publish your web database to a SharePoint server, you can use the application from within Access 2010 and you can use the application within a web browser. When you use or design the database from within Access, Microsoft often uses the term rich client in these discussions. Web databases, as you just learned, can contain web objects as well as client objects. The client objects do not run in the browser, but they will run in Access 2010. When you see the term rich client, we are referring to designing or using the web database from within Access 2010 where you have all the design facilities available to you, including the ability to work with client objects. Access Services on SharePoint does not have any design facilities to modify your web database and the server cannot run or execute something it doesn't understand. Rich client refers to the fact that Access 2010 has all the rich design and functional capabilities that the server might not have available.

If you're already familiar with creating client databases in previous versions of Access, you're already well on your way to understanding how to create web databases. In general, the server has less functionality than the rich client so when you are designing web objects, Access 2010 presents design surfaces that only show options, properties, controls, and other design mechanisms that will seamlessly move to the server. We use the term weblegal to describe those objects, controls, properties, etc. that can move successfully to the server.