DAO problems, and client server RDBMSs

Does anyone out there know how to get
[Quoted] DAOs (used with Access and Visual Basic) to work correctly with a minimum of coding?

When I work in Oracle, I can do what I
want to do in only two statements!!!

update/insert/delete ...
commit

If I have a screen in Foxpro, I have a number of memory variables. When I enter the screen, it is
scatter memvar
After any changes, I use the command:
gather memver
which writes everything to the database.

Again, two commands. (However, in Foxpro, you do have to be aware if you delete the last record, BOF, and EOF, and put some if statements in.)

However, I am finding a LOT of problems with DAOs.

1)
If you just open a recordset, the count is always 1, even though the recordset can have hundreds of records. You have to put other lines of code in order to move the pointer around, and back again, before the count will work right.

2)
[Quoted] With DAOs, standard SQL queries must be made into an object first. So even a simple count requires a number of lines of coding. In Foxpro, or Oracle, you just do the query. It's very simple.

3)
[Quoted] If you use the update command, then the pointer is actually moved to another record!
Therefore, if you want to still be positioned on the same record, then you have to use searching techniques to find the same record again.

Delete:

[Quoted]
• if you delete the last record in a set, move next doesn't work. So, you need an if statement, and a movelast.
• the problem is, if you delete the very last record, so that there are no more records. In this case, you can't use movelast. You have to use refresh. And another if statement.
• another problem is, you can't rely on the recordcount, because it's not reliable! So, you need to have some more lines of code to check for things that really shouldn't need to be checked.

There are other problems too, but they are not fresh in my mind right now.

At first I thought that Visual Basic might make a good front end for a client server application. However, having worked with it, I am having second thoughts.

[Quoted] My question is, does anyone use Visual Basic, or Access, to work with a REAL RDBMS system such as Oracle? What has your experience been?

Rodger Lepinsky
ADP Systems Partnership
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Opinions are my own, not necessarily my employer's. Received on Tue Jul 22 1997 - 00:00:00 CEST