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I noticed lightspeed supports many databases, including sqlite. Is there any reason MS Access is not included? Maybe a future development? Even if it only supported versions 2003+ still be nice for the small apps that need tighter grained column type support than sql lite provides. |
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The main reason that Access has not been a high priority for us is the way that Access generally gets used. First, Access users tend to be less technical than developers: they like Access precisely because it (initially) seems "programming-less." Access users would therefore not be accepting of a product that asks them to write .NET code. Second, Access solutions tend to be entirely handled within Access: Access provides the storage, the designer, the UI, etc. It would be hard for Access users to move to an environment where these are separate concerns. I realise these are gross generalisations and I'm not suggesting all Access users or all Access development is this way. For greenfield "small apps," engines like SQL Server Compact or VistaDB (or even SQL Server Express) provide finer grained typing at the database level than SQLite, and tend to handle multiple users better than Access does. Furthermore, if you are accessing the database through a model, the type of a column at the database level is less of a concern -- correctness can be enforced at the domain model level rather than requiring the RDBMS to detect violations. That said, we recognise that there are a lot of "brownfield" apps out there, where there is an existing Access-based solution which needs to be enhanced in ways where LightSpeed can help e.g. to put a Web front end over it. We're certainly open to considering Access support as a possible future enhancement if you have a specific use case where it would be helpful to you. |
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