My situation: I am creating a specialized accounting application that has 14 main software modules (IE General Ledger, Accounts Payable, etc.) The first package was created like any other MM project. Now that I am beginning the second, the database, menus, logon etc now really need to be managed by a systems menu that calls each seperate software package and still hang together as one large integrated application. For example, the MM logon should be to gain access to the entire main accounting menu, and not for each application of the main menu. (We have created a legacy style menu along with the windows menu to help our users into windows. Anyone have a legacy style menu object, built on and into the framework?)

My question is what is the preferred way of structuring this type of app? I know about having seperate database containers under one project.

Should I have seperate projects for each application (IE General Ledger, Accounts Payable, etc)?

I have also read about using the abstract factory for larger applications and how you can reference other seperate projects (app) for instanciating classes. I learned at the MM class that I could create a "master" project that has compiled into it all the MM classes and have "thin" secondary projects (apps) for each application (IE General Ledger, Accounts Payable, etc.) that would only have the application specific libraries contained in it.

How would I control building the "fat" main and "thin" secondary apps?

What is an overview of how to have the abstract factory integrate all the seperate applications into one big accounting application?

How should a large multi-application application be created, debugged, tested and then finally integrated based on MM mechanisms, features, etc.

Has anyone built the type of application I am describing that can share their experience and "how to" techniques?

Thanks

Gary Pike.