CTEC2402: Sofware Development Project

The Database Choice

Access has to be the most easy to use, yet feature rich database. It provides design view editors with wizards that enable developers to create complicated forms and reports with ease. Developers can also make many changes to the database tables without having to re-create the table. The only reason it is not used in web pages is that it can only support tens of users accessing the database simultaneously before its performance becomes unacceptably slow.

Server Explorer Therefore in the real world SQL Server is the Microsoft client-server database of choice. It is capable of supporting thousands of users simultaneously. However I am suggesting that Web Forms and Access provide the easiest and quickest route to creating web pages suitable for this project. DMU has agreed that Access can be used for the project in place of SQL Server Express as there are too many technical issues with using this database in College. You can use Access 2010 with the accdb file format or Access 2003 and the mdb file format.

Adding the Database

Right click on the App_Data folder and select Add Existing Item. Browse, find your database and click ok. The database should be added to the folder and should appear in the Server Explorer window as well. In that window you can examine the tables and update or view the data.