1. ASA is a relational database similar to MS SQL Server. ASA is more of a light weight database that does not have the requirements of a larger database such as having to run on a windows server class product. ASA will run on a laptop as well as a desktop. Some of the advantages of ASA is the ability to run on PDAs such as Palm or WinCE. There is also an excellent product called Mobile Link that will allow data synchronization between databases. There is no need to pack the database when rows are deleted. The database is also self tuning that makes it very easy to administer. The down side is there is per seat charge for licensing.

2. ASA has the ability to create remote cursors that will attach to other databases. Once this is setup, the tables in your other database looks like another table in the ASA database.

3. ASA has excellent performance. It may be a bit of overkill for a standalone product but it won’t disappoint. I started with ASA on Version 5.0 and it is now at version 8.0. The performance has increased greatly including support for multiple CPUs.

4. ASA is fairly easy to distribute. I comes with InstallShield scripts that automate the process. It is still more complex to distribute than a simple VFP application. You also have to deal with setting up ODBC drivers as well.

5. There are very few limitations that I have seen until you get to hundreds of users. At that point the bigger databases are more suitable.

I like using ASA a lot but I am wondering why you don’t use VFP and their native DBFs in a stand alone application. They are much better than Access and VFP is much more powerful development environment IMHO.


>Ok.. now I knew that I am using ASA, so could you help me by answering my questions please?
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>1. Last time I used Ms. Access (for stand alone database) and disappointed with this product, because I have to compact my database otherwise the size will become large.. the question is: should I do the same thing or something like that with Sybase? (I mean compacting or packing deleted records)
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>2. Is it possible for me to export my previous Ms. Access Databases to Sybase?
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>3. what do you thing about this product? (for Speed, Storage Capacity, Performance .. etc especially for stand alone database applications)
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>4. What are the Sybase distribution components should I include in my application setup?
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>5. Do you know the limitations?
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>Your answers is highly appreciated and thanks in advance
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>Regards
>
>Winan