[Driftweed]

Finally broke down & got a laptop...

Anyone got any pointers for this program? Seems like it has potential to link customers to jobs & jobs to customer specific "products"

Example: I bid an apartment complex interior repaint based on various floor plans. So each customer has roughly 4-8 specific "products" where the price is unique to that customer.

I would also like to link to what person worked on that individual product. This way I can click on the employees name & see a history of all jobs he ever did.

 

[macmikeman]

I don't use Access, but have certification for Filemaker 10,11,and 8.5
YouTube is going to be your friend in this subject.
They are pretty similar programs, with drag to set relationships.
When it comes to relational databases the sky is the limit, you can do pretty much whatever comes to your mind.

Quickbooks is a good example of what I am talking about.

 

[macmikeman]

Customers table, Products table, and a join table - name it something like Invoice_Lines table. Invoices_Lines holds foreign keys for Customers and Products. Customers and Products each have a primary key named the same as the foreign key for them that is in the Invoices_Lines table. Then go to the graph screen and drag from Customers primary key to the same name in Invoices_Lines. Then drag from Products primary key to the foreign key in Invoices_Lines named the same. That forms the basis for your relationship. You put all the Customer name, address, zip code, phone and so forth fields in Customers table, and the names for your finished 'PRODUCTS' in the products table. Do your reports based on Invoice_Lines table.

 

[macmikeman]

 

[Driftweed]

Yeah...this is going to take a while. Good point on the keys. Been reading the included help section to learn as much as i can.

Going to build a web database that will enable employees to invoice customers and track job progress.

Gotta relearn alot of computer logic I firgot about iver the years. But I figure its definitely needed.

 

[SectorSecurity]

Yeah...this is going to take a while. Good point on the keys. Been reading the included help section to learn as much as i can.

Going to build a web database that will enable employees to invoice customers and track job progress.

Gotta relearn alot of computer logic I firgot about iver the years. But I figure its definitely needed.

If you are going to go with a web database, I would stay away from access and go with something like mysql.

 

[Driftweed]

Its amazing how visual basic has lasted through the years. I can't believe we are still coding with that language.

I probably wont use acees in the end, but i figure it should be on par with other programs language wise. So before I spend any $ it will be good for relearning.

 

[SectorSecurity]

Its amazing how visual basic has lasted through the years. I can't believe we are still coding with that language.

I probably wont use acees in the end, but i figure it should be on par with other programs language wise. So before I spend any $ it will be good for relearning.

mysql is free.

 

[PatsPainting]

Its amazing how visual basic has lasted through the years. I can't believe we are still coding with that language.

I probably wont use acees in the end, but i figure it should be on par with other programs language wise. So before I spend any $ it will be good for relearning.

vb.net is a pretty powerful language and not that hard to learn. Doubt it's going anywhere anytime soon. C# seems to be number one for the net framework stuff. Or at least it seems that from searching for .net samples.

visual studio express is free also.

Pat

 

[Texas Wax]

Its amazing how visual basic has lasted through the years. I can't believe we are still coding with that language.

I probably wont use acees in the end, but i figure it should be on par with other programs language wise. So before I spend any $ it will be good for relearning.

Writing code in VB for access?

 

[Driftweed]

yes, macros appear to be written in vb or basic. I am only on try #12 so far...will be in the hundreds before its over.

Everytime i think I got a table laid out correct, i think up something new and start over.

 

[Texas Wax]

I don't use access, rather lotus approach. No real difference. Just like Ms excel compared to lotus 123 spread sheets. I've played with access just never invested in it. Approach has been very inexpensive, however IBM is not really "supporting" it anymore.

You are using access' graphic user interface to set up macro's right?

Well anywho ....
Relational databases rock and 'hurt the brain case' all at the same time. I have Job tracking, Labor, mat costs all set up. Job tracking with work order break outs, Labor tasks and a few other twists and turns. Inventory for cabinet shop, tied into work orders and some where I have an accounting database I used for 10 years till 2006. The accountant even approved of it.

Can be a valuable tool. I find the easy/fun part is setting it up - keeping up with updating is the challenge.

Mysql has piqued my curiosity. Have it installed on my website/server. Just have not done anything with it. With the thinking that you can port data out of acess/approach to the sql table/s on the server...use that for web access. That's a new can of worms and integration with Php and more learning than I have time for :laughing:

 

[SectorSecurity]

The thing I do like about access is it is easy to setup a form (graphical interface) for interaction with the DB.

 

[Vix]

The thing I like about using office suites . . .

. . . is that not only can you keep track of the data, but you can use the customer base to make a mailing list.

If you need any help with that computer logic I would not mind answering a question or 2. I do not want to violate the TOS so I won't say anything more than I can help.

Victor Venero

 

[emeraldstate]

lots of good comments here. Access is definitely a limited database engine. I would go with mysql also. That said, I really doubt you want to use a database like this. I think there are tools out there that do what you want that are specific to the industry. A database is a very complex approach. Kind of like saying you want to read a book and someone gives you a big box with pieces of paper with words on them. Wouldn't it be better to buy a novel instead.

 

[macmikeman]

Filemaker rocks. No two ways about it. But it takes learning to produce good output. Same goes for photoshop. Or Garage Band. You get back out what you put in. My experience is that construction related fields workers and owners are usually way too lazy and also pretty much cheap skates looking for free or next to free when it comes to software and frankly are not a good market to sell to.

 

[smalpierre]

I'm a computer programmer by education, and worked as a financial systems / web programmer for a bank as long as I could stand corporate america - so I'll weigh in and help you out here.

PM me and I'll build you an example database to get you started, send you some insert / update / select queries (deletes are way too simple), and give you some code to start with in the language of your choice.

I suggest MySql. It's free, and it's graphic interface is really nice and very powerful. You could also use Microsofts professional product Sql Server which I used to use a lot. There's a free version of it too. MySql is easier to find info on though.

Unlike Access, there will be no built in programming environment. Access's environment sucks anyway for many many many reasons. So you'll need to figure out your target. If you want to build desktop apps you have a few good choices. Qt which is C++, Lazarus which is a Delphi clone and uses Object Pascal.

C++ is a little bit daunting, but Qt makes it not so bad. I've cross compiled the same exact code to target Linux and Windows - and it looks like you can do the same for Android and IOS now too but I haven't tried it.

If you're going for a web app, PHP is where it's at. Getting a webserver set up with PHP on Windows is a pain, but you can download Wampserver and it'll pretty much do it all for you. Most everything I've coded in the last few years has been web apps in PHP / MySql.

Like I said, PM me and I can help you get rolling pretty quick.

 

[smalpierre]

The basics are a real ***** to learn, but once they click, the rest of it starts to fall into place really quickly. If you learn the right way first, it makes it a LOT easier

 

[smalpierre]

Writing code in VB for access?

Yes, most all user interface code in Access is in VB. Technically it's VBA since it's the built into application version rather than the standalone. product in Visual Studio but what's the difference ... Access is a data storage engine and user interface building platform all in one - although both are pretty bad particularly data access.

The data access is done via sql like any other database, but it's a strange version of sql that is totally not portable with other databases. I had to port an Access database to Microsoft Sql Server - I beat my head on it for a while. Cursed the programmers that built the crappy system, ended up getting authorized to demo and build from the ground up with Sql Server, and all new VB - technically ASP in VBS - since it's the version built into the crumby MS IIS webserver.

 

[smalpierre]

Driftweed - if you want the really really easy way to do what you want to do, spend $300 on Quickbooks - get the Premier Contractor edition. It'll do way more than you'll ever code yourself.

It's already got built in products, which can be assemblies made of other products and services, you can set up customers, produce estimates with the products, you can record purchases for projects, track employee time per project, run reports that show what you estimated costs to be vs what they really are ...

Basically once it's set up you can add a customer, create an estimate, track actual costs, and run reports that tell you which jobs were the most profitable very quickly without any coding. Oh, and you can see who worked on what projects too.

Unless you just want to build it - which I totally get