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Using multiple sets of tables with a single application

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    Using multiple sets of tables with a single application

    This a new thread on a question I asked in a different thread with the hope I can make my question more clear.

    I have a desktop app distributed to a group of people. Each person works on a different subset of the data, i.e., accounts with the letter A, letter B, etc. No one is networked or connected to the central database nor can they be. Any updates to the central files are done independently and used as a check against these subsets.

    In one or two cases, the same individual works on two subsets, i.e., P and X. The application and tables are identical for each subset, but the data is different and cannot be intermingled.

    How can I provide access to more than one subset for these one or two people? I think they would need to either have two installations of the app, one for each subset, or a single install with a way to switch out of one subset into the other when necessary.

    Is file naming the answer and, if so, is there some way to do this easily in the app and give the user a choice of which subset he wants to work on? I prefer not to have to do a serious rewrite for the one or two people involved.

    Les

    #2
    Re: Using multiple sets of tables with a single application

    Hi Les,

    I shall be interested in what others may reply.

    My take on the situation is that the data should all be in one place and the users log in to the data and use it with the permissions granted to each user.
    Regards
    Keith Hubert
    Alpha Guild Member
    London.
    KHDB Management Systems
    Skype = keith.hubert


    For your day-to-day Needs, you Need an Alpha Database!

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Using multiple sets of tables with a single application

      Originally posted by Les View Post

      No one is networked or connected to the central database nor can they be. Any updates to the central files are done independently and used as a check against these subsets.

      Les
      Can you define the objective more specific?
      Accessing forms or tables can be achieved by menu control for each user.
      Is the database at some point loaded to a central place?
      If all the forms are the same, what distinguish one table from another, the user, date, customer?

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Using multiple sets of tables with a single application

        I guess I'd do it something like this (attached).
        Mike W
        __________________________
        "I rebel in at least small things to express to the world that I have not completely surrendered"

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Using multiple sets of tables with a single application

          Each individual user maintains his subset of a larger database with account transaction details that apply to his subset of subscribers. The central database keeps a summary only of the money amounts by subscriber account.

          Everyone works alone (at home) so there are no connections among users.

          A few people handle more than one subset which is where my question arose. Those few need to switch from subset one to subset two. All of the subsets they process reside on one PC.

          Each subset is a separate and unique grouping of accounts. The files for each of these subsets could have a unique name to distinguish them but if I did that, what would be the simplest approach to accomplish this within the application?

          Your implication that several subsets could be in the same tables is valid but I think that would take a lot more work to accomplish. Also, this is a low utilization application manned by volunteers who are mostly not very technically proficient so simple is best.

          Les

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Using multiple sets of tables with a single application

            Hi Les,
            so simple is best.
            Would be true but I believe what you are thinking here as simple, is not really the case.

            When you say different users are working on subsets of data, you make me wonder why data cant be filtered as to who is logged on.
            application manned by volunteers who are mostly not very technically proficient
            If they can use a computer, your volunteers are more technically proficient than you are giving them credit for. As a developer, who is technically proficient, try to keep the application as simple as possible without too many bells and whistles, then neither you nor your users will get confused as to what they should be doing.
            Regards
            Keith Hubert
            Alpha Guild Member
            London.
            KHDB Management Systems
            Skype = keith.hubert


            For your day-to-day Needs, you Need an Alpha Database!

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Using multiple sets of tables with a single application

              Originally posted by Les View Post
              How can I provide access to more than one subset for these one or two people? I think they would need to either have two installations of the app, one for each subset, or a single install with a way to switch out of one subset into the other when necessary.
              Les
              They way I responded was my understanding of your request.
              Mike Wilson did one big better, He displayed.
              You say they are individual users, so each pc has the same amount of subsets(I assume that a subset is either a single table/form or what we have in Alpha called a SET)and each pc has one user only.
              Am I correct?
              If that it the case, what is the objective, other than create a menu or buttons to jump from one form to another, that will,be the simplest way.
              There is not even a need for security log in.
              Less, I am sorry, but all I see is a very simple process, or I do not get it at all.

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Using multiple sets of tables with a single application

                Originally posted by Les View Post
                How can I provide access to more than one subset for these one or two people? I think they would need to either have two installations of the app, one for each subset, or a single install with a way to switch out of one subset into the other when necessary.

                Is file naming the answer and, if so, is there some way to do this easily in the app and give the user a choice of which subset he wants to work on? I prefer not to have to do a serious rewrite for the one or two people involved.

                Les
                In this case I think the simplest is to have two installations of the app.

                You already have the situation that if something needed to be fixed or changed in the app it would need to be done on multiple user's machines - ie in multiple copies of the app. So one user having two copies of the app on their machine would not be any different than two users having one copy each.

                Just keep each app in a folder that describes the contents. You could have a folder called Data. Then subfolders called Letter P and Letter X. The actual table names would not need to be altered. The user would open Alpha, navigate two which ever 'Letter' they want to work on. When finished, close that app and navigate to the other app/folder. The user could even open two instances of Alpha if they wanted to and work on both at the same time, since they would technically be different applications. When it comes time to collect the data you will just be getting two sets of data/applications from the one person. That way the system you now use for collating and checking does not need to take into account that there might be multiple data sets in one app.

                Yes, this sounds a bit rough and ready. Is there a more elegant solution? Maybe (depending on one's definition of elegant). But considering the system you already have in place, this should work just fine.
                Tim Kiebert
                Eagle Creek Citrus
                A complex system that does not work is invariably found to have evolved from a simpler system that worked just fine.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Using multiple sets of tables with a single application

                  Sorry for the late reply but I have been travelling for the past week and was only able to look at the zip files today. I will study Mike Wilson's approach and see how I might work it into my system.

                  I have one user testing this and he installed the system twice. He reported that he has no issues on his single PC and has been able to work on each data segment successfully so I have a working solution. This is clearly the simplest way to go.

                  Now that the pressure is off, I will play around and see if I can find a more elegant solution with a single installation but access to more than one segment of data (each in a separate set of tables).

                  Stay tuned.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Using multiple sets of tables with a single application

                    alpha is able to open 2 databases at a time, so a user could open a seperate databes as "a" and "b" and work on both alternating between them if desired.

                    I assume(hate that word) you are appending the needed data into the main database?

                    If the users are working at home, would an internet solution be feasible??
                    ---
                    As stated above, you can limit the users abilites to see only the data they are supposed to.



                    .
                    Dave Mason
                    [email protected]
                    Skype is dave.mason46

                    Comment

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