<With some add on tools Delphi comes close, but it is still nowhere near
as quick as Access to build a bunch of forms , pump data into
spreadsheets, charts, word processing applications. It is often little
things that make the difference - the speed with which drop down lists
can be created is a huge boon to an access developer when the business
needs an app that really does speed the workflow of their transactional
staff. >
Hi John,
Delphi is actually excellent, and while it has a slightly higher
learning curve than Access, it provides a flexibility that is
unmatched. When it comes to database development there is nothing
better IMHO :-)
Access is for business analysts and such who can't/don't want to
program, at least that is how it is used at the company I work for, and
they(the business analysts) have dug themselves into a deep hole, they
now have over 1000 little access applications floating around and they
don't know what half of them do anymore. If they would have done it the
right way they could have had a central data warehouse in PG and thin
clients built with Delphi and/or combined with Intraweb.
Another option that is starting to look really good is Lazarus
(http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org/) Zeos lib is available for it
http://www.zeoslib.net and it provides a very very very similar
experience to Delphi.
From my experience it is best to stay away from Access for application
development if can.It does have it's place but I consider it a "evil"
way of getting the job done.
Later,
Tony Caduto