Implementing WPF

Question

Hi
I am new to this forum and also new to WPF. But upon reading several articles and forums on WPF is sounds really promising but I am not sure if it can help my case as i am still learning about .NET framework and WPF. Below is a short description of my current situation, I am hoping to implement WPF based form as a source of data input and phase out MS Access. Any thoughts?

Currently I am using MS Access as our front-end for data input. I either manually enter data in Access tables or copy paste data from MS Excel to MS Access tables that is connected to SQL Server which has our stored procedures and runs all the calculations. I am using Crystal Reports as our reporting tool. The current problem is that MS Access as front-end is not very intuitive for me personally and for others who wish to use this application setup. Not to mention that there are no validation checks that warns the user of incorrect data input into Access table.

I am looking for options maybe build something on Access that can take multiple records at once or create a new standalone or web based application using WPF or other products.

Thanks,

Sam Hobbs · Answer

Silverlight is a subset of WPF. You can learn and use Silverlight and then when you need to do more you can use what you have learned with WPF. It is very common to write applications that use a Data Access Layer (DAL) separate from the rest of the program. That makes it easier to convert to another database so you can write an application that uses an Access database but later convert the data to SQL Server and then it is easier to develop a version of your application(s) that use SQL Server instead. Look for articles and books in this web site about that. Also look for articles and books in this web site about the Entity Framework. You might want to buy a book or books on the subject of database programing but I don't know what to recommend.

vaibhav yadav · Answer

Oh great. It sounds promising. I will definitely take a look into that. Thanks

Mamta M · Answer

While moving to WPF might be a good idea I can suggest you an even better one. Why not opt for Silverlight? It gives you the DataForm control which (with some coding) can replicate functionality similar to what you were doing in MS Access. And if you dont want a Web based application you can even go for an Silverlight Out of Browser app.