During a recent question that was published by a developer. they were requesting how to convert and import Paradox tables into Microsoft Access. When all of a sudden there was a huge amount of hate towards Microsoft Access and Excel.
The responses were overwhelming about the evils from these two products. There is some truth with limitation concerns using Access.
Limitations on using Access
- It struggles with huge amounts of (2 gigabyte limit) and often slows down with if 10 plus users are added.
- The database can easily become corrupted and needs to be compacted/repaired.
- It only works on Window platforms and is not cheap.
- Does not work from a web site.
Should you use MDB or ACCDB
The main difference between Microsoft Access’s mdb and accdb file formats is that accdb is newer and has more features. accdb file format support SharePoint and Outlook security requirements that aren’t supported by mdb files. This makes it possible to integrate Access more fully with SharePoint and Outlook. Improved encryption You can choose to set a database password and encrypt the contents of your database.
File format:
accdb: A file format used in Access 2007 and later
mdb: A binary database file format used in pre-2007 versions of Access
What is Microsoft Access?
As a developer you can use Access to interface with a windows application for the purpose of data storage. Microsoft Access is a database management system (DBMS). It combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and tools. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite of applications, included in the Professional and higher editions or sold separately. Access is designed to make it easier to use to scale from small projects to complex business applications.
Why would developers use Access for storage ?
For the most part developers use access within their applications for data storage. As long as the application performs correctly there is little need to worry about corruption.
- Data is stored from the application using SQL statements or written towards.
- Small sided shops can network the database so it can be retrieve by multiple users.
- Easy for exporting information.
- There is always a need to have a utility with your application for the purpose of compact/repair.
- Simple to use.
Developers do have other options like SQLite, Mongodb or even a purchased database package. There is no need to continue to beat on Access just because you don’t like it. It has been around since 1992.
