I am looking for design advice with regard to vb.net and access 2000 applications.  I'm experienced with vb6 but am currently writing a data entry app using vb.net and access.  I expect that up to 20 users will be using the app at any given time.  I understand that .net provides a dataset option increasing the scalability of access backend apps due to the fact that users are working with a representation of the db not the db itself.  My question is at what point (number of users) is it recommended to use the dataset approach instead of bound controls.  Obviously the dataset approach introduces concurrency complications to the application.  Thanks for any advice you have to offer.

Hi

I have not used access in a similar scenari but whatyou must understand is that when you use a dataset you create a DataAdapter that acts as a bridge between your datasource and the dataset. This scenario introduces a disconnected architecture of data access. After the Dataset is filled with records the connection is servered so that other connections can be made to the datasource. Any changes made in the dataset are then updated using the update command of the dataadapter. so this increases scalability because calls to the datasource are spread apart. Concurrency issues with access are taken care of by access itself since it locks you db as soon as a connection is made.  However access is never the best choice for a scalable application as the one you have in mind, especially when need arises to go beyond your twenty users.

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BrainBench ADO.NET and ASP.NET Certified Developer

Hello,

I have found Access can easaly handle up to 20 users at once, depending on how cleanly you design the data access sid; for example, rather than sending a completed query through jet, you can select everything out of the table and edit the results after you have closed the connection. You could alos add queries directly to the access database then just select * from them just like they were tables, this also reduces the amount of time you are in a database, for a data entry project, given your exp. with vb6 I would consider using ADO classic and creating a wrapper class that supports your data access requirements.