MUST+Web will take your Access application to the next level by translating Access forms into
web forms for use with Visual Studio or Visual Web Developer Express and provide the hooks to
enable you to launch Reports using Report Server.
Requires SQL Server 2005/2008 or Express and Visual Web Developer Express or Visual Studio 2005/2008.
Each section below provides an outline of key product features in MUST+Web:
This involves the tool identifying form/report record sources, and row sources for key controls.
The SQL required to drive the form/report and controls is then automatically packaged into SQL Server Views,
and then the forms/reports and controls are altered to use the new views. This together with translating
all your queries completes the process of extracting all the key SQL from Access and placing it in
SQL Server views and stored procedures.
Unlike Access, a web form does not provide built in features for searching and filtering
data, so for each form you can select the fields which your users are going to use for searching. The
tool will then create a search/filter area through which data can be filtered when viewing a form.
These filters remember a users choices and support multi-user activity on a system.
Single forms and subforms are converted to use either FormView/DetailsView controls.
Continuous forms are converted to use the either ListView or GridView controls. For GridView controls
an additional DetailsView is constructed
to allow inserting data (a feature un-available with the standard control), although a better choice is
to use the ListView which supports the in-line insertion of data.
Tab controls with pages containing either individual controls or subforms are supported.
For a fixed presentation of data the choice of DetailsView and ListView controls provides an ideal
layout, and for a more flexible layout the choice of FormView and ListView controls with absolute
control positioning is a better choice.
Calendar controls are added to assist when entering dates.
MUST will identify the linking Master/Child fields in your Access Forms and construct equivalent
links between the webform controls to synchronise the display of data between controls.
When convering forms a standard naming convention is applied to all controls which simplifies navigating
through the design of a form.
As part of the site preparation, the tool will check that all the data in fields bound to drop-down
lists can be displayed in the DropDownList controls, and has a facilities to correct illegal data.
This is an import check without which errors will occur indicating that a selected value can not be displayed.
To get you started with constructing a menu for site navigation, the tool will create a web sitemap which
has menu entries for each form and report.
Reports need to be manually imported into a Report Server Project and deployed using SQL Server
Report Services, for each report the tool generates a form which uses the ReportViewer control
to display the report.
The tool generates error handling routines for events associated with the DetailsView/FormView/ListView and
GridView controls, basic error messages are then displayed in text box controls.
The generated site uses one or more Master Pages which use content areas to control the layout
of each page and individual controls use CSS references to style presentations. This approach makes
it simpler for you to change presentations and layouts.
Generates DataSources using either SQLDataSource, LINQDataSource or EntityDataSource controls. Full support
for both LINQ and the new Entity Data Model.
Supports projects using in either Visual Basic or C#.
Settings are provided to control date presentation formats, which are applied when appropriate to format
dates.
Combo boxes are rendered with appropriate code to enable data entry without making a selection
overcoming a common problem when constructing web forms.
There is an optional setting to assist in identifying required fields, a visual queue (*) is displayed next to mandatory fields.
Event code is added to set focus to the first available control when editing data.
Autonumber (Identity property) fields are hidden when inserting and rendered as labels when editing
data.
Using Ajax panels means that on master detail pages the data controls for the detail sections
can be placed inside Ajax panels which reduces screen flicker using partial page updates.
We have a default setting to utilise our CSS strategy (this can be turned off). The CSS strategy is described fully
in the following article (CSS Design Strategy)and significantly reduces design effort when modifying form layouts.
For applications which do not utilise integrated security classes are supplied to assist in managing
application security.
SQL is generated to support the key control operations of INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE.
For views which depend on a single table, DELETE SQL is generated to delete from the single table.
SQL generated conforms with the 'CompareAllValues' locking strategy.