> Working against the SQL backend was about as easy as against the native Jet backend. Again, that was 10 or so years ago, I imagine integration has only gotten better since then.

The comment below is about something ten years old. But the recent examples (got an Access mdb with accompanying SQL db to convert the data), if there is anything new in that field, I haven't noticed them using it. The coupling of the controls and the records seems to be the same as back then.

>Asking the Access users/devs for custom data/queries is probably the wrong way to go, again they may not know SQL. You might be better off giving them a VFP app and getting them to fill in user credentials and connection string info, to work against the SQL DB directly.

Exactly, and that's what I did each time. Never even met any of those guys, and I got the connectstrings on my own.

Specially in that particular case when the Access guy was asking enormous amounts of money to fix some really stupid bugs (probably written under Access equivalent of "set brain off"), so I had to write routines which would, pardon the poor pun (don't chop off its head), access the SQL db and fix the consequences thereof. Also had to write a full-blown inventory taking, because the guy never had the time to write that. And the value of the inventory was in millions...