>Hi,
>I have taken over support for a customer. They have 8 different Access97 mdbs. They need extensive rework on at least 2 of them. (1 of the 8 is just tables that the others link off of) I need to keep the existing main database that has the tables in it Access97. (another one of the databases is a cash register app that we really don't want to touch unless absolutely have to)
>With that in mind, the other apps that need to be redone, what would be best suited to do it in? My main options are stick with Access97, upgrade to Access2000, do it in VB, or do it in VFP6. I am leaning on either VB or VFP6. I don't know much about the stability and additional options of Access2000 yet. Access97 really does not have OOP. I was wanting to start out with Visual Modeler to get a good handle on the design aspect of it.

It's really difficult to say what'd be the right way to go with this. My gut reaction would be "not enough information to make a good decision"; the constraining issues are:

(1) Part of the app depends on the existing databases and file formats, and if you're unwilling to modify them, at least the affected portion of the database has to remain as MDBs and will use Access97 if that's wht the cash register app is written with.

(2) Forms, reports and the like that were built using Access will have to be redone if you leave the Access environment and don't need to change in the new systems.

(3) Business rules as they exist now are written in BASIC-ish form.

I'm not an Access fan - if I were going to rely on a big part of the existing code base, I'd lean towards Access 2000 if Access cn meet the other system requirements. If little of the current application stuff should be retained, or if Access features or performance were problems, I'd not pick Access. The right tool would largely depend on what needed to be done, how much I needed to rely on the existing forms and reports and how comfortable I was in being able to accurately estimate the time to design, implement and test the new system.

I'd pick the tool after deciding what needed to be done.

>Try to be unbiased if possible.
>Thanks