Microsoft Access

Microsoft Office Access, previously known as Microsoft Access, is a relational database management system from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software development tools. It is a member of the 2007 Microsoft Office system.

Access can use data stored in Access/Jet, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, or any ODBC-compliant data container (including MySQL and PostgreSQL). Skilled software developers and data architects use it to develop application software. Relatively unskilled programmers and non-programmer "power users" can use it to build simple applications. It supports some object-oriented techniques but falls short of being a fully object-oriented development tool.

One of the benefits of Access from a programmer's perspective is its relative compatibility with SQL (structured query language) — queries can be viewed graphically or edited as SQL statements, and SQL statements can be used directly in Macros and VBA Modules to manipulate Access tables.

Microsoft has strongly recommended for the past decade that Jet databases are inappropriate for basic web based applications hosted on Microsoft's Internet Information Services and utilizing Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP.

Some professional application developers use Access for rapid application development, especially for the creation of prototypes and standalone applications that serve as tools for on-the-road salespeople.

Access applications do not scale well if data access is via a network, however by moving an Access application to a an Application Server such as Microsoft Terminal Services the number of users that can be supported is substantially increased. Moving to an Application Server also has the benefit of allowing database use over a Wide Area Network.

Applications that are used by more than a handful of people tend to rely on Client-Server based solutions.[citation needed] However, an Access "front end" (the forms, reports, queries and VB code) can be used against a host of database backends, including JET (file-based database engine, used in Access by default), Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and all other ODBC-compliant product.

It can only be used with ASP while building a web application. IntegratedWbeworks does not built any application with Access as a relational database. But will support legacy code using access.