One Program, 3-4 computers

Question

I am writing a program for an environment and need some advice.
The program will be run on 3-4 computers, but each one needs to access the same data.
The issue is that the users are not skilled, so the program needs to set up everything.
I was using ADODB and jet as a database provider to set up a database in a windows shared folder and having the other computers access that file. I am running into a few errors with access rights though, and cant seem to serialize a class and store it in the database.
As a work-around, I was using a binary file to store the classes I needed serialized and storing everything else in the database. This isn't at all practical.
The program is nearly done, but i need to address these issues. It is well-organized code, so I am prepared to quickly swap data providers.
The other issue is that when I publish an update, if there are structural database changes, I have had to delete the database. Obviously this wont work once the user has the program. I can't tell them they are losing all their data because i forgot to make a field for a phone number...
There must be a more efficient way to do this, But these are computers are not always connected to the internet, only a LAN. So I need to manage the database through the initial install and updates.

Answer 1

1. First, you have a shared database and all these users are on same Network. They will share same database and database can be a SQL Server database. I am not sure if you can do this. If database is Access, it can be placed on a shared drive.

2. Whenever you update your application and database, you will have to let your users download the latest version and replace the old version with this new version.

3. Yes, you will have to build a setup program so your users can run it.

4. If you do not want your users to handle any of the work, you can build a Website and they just have to go to the URL and you control both application and the database.

5. You can build a Web Service and your client applications (on user machines) will call Web Service and web service will sit on top of the shared database.

Answer 2

Okay, so I use an access database on a shared drive. Thats fine. I can set it up fine, and have others access it fine. I run into problems with serializations though, so I made a work-around by serializing to a shared binary file. I REALLY don't want to do this, but I can't seem to serialize a class instance and store it in the access DB.
What classes work best with access databases? I've been using ADODB.

Answer 3

May be  Firebird ?