Access continues to grow as an integral part of enterprise data management. Important capabilities have been added with each new release of Microsoft Access. Even though Access is not a strong tool for creating or driving Web sites, Access 2007 includes outstanding capabilities for integrating with data sources located anywhere on the Internet.
This part begins by examining extensible markup language (XML), the lingua franca of Internet data sharing. XML is a native data format recognized and used by Access 2007, and all communication with SharePoint is through XML exchange.
The most significant of these new capabilities is integration with Microsoft SharePoint Services. Access 2007 seamlessly integrates with SharePoint, using SharePoint Lists as linked tables. This means that your Access 2007 applications can share data with SharePoint users anywhere in the world. SharePoint data linked to Access databases is completely updatable and can be displayed on Access forms and reports.
Access is able to share data with SQL Server, Oracle, and other enterprise database engines. For obvious reasons, Access works best with Microsoft SQL Server, and we cover this topic in the following chapters. You’ll learn how to extract static data from a SQL Server database and use it in Access forms and reports. You’ll also figure out how to connect to SQL Server and seamlessly share dynamic data with this powerful database engine.
You’ll learn the basics of client-server computing and how to upsize your Access 2007 applications to SQL Server 2005. Server database engines such as SQL Server provide fast and virtually unlimited access to enormous amounts of data. Because of Access’s superior user interface tools and strong reporting capabilities, your Access application is the ideal companion to data managed by SQL Server.