MS Access Split Database - Front End Upgrading

Question

I have an Access database/program that will be placed on 1 computer for users to log information. I understand that splitting the database will basically separate the tables and the rest of the program from each other into two separate files (front-end & back-end). In the future there may come a time to upgrade that program to meet more needs. I have been developing the program on my personal computer and had planned on downloading the updates to the local machine.

So my question is, can I continue to make changes to the program on my personal computer and download the front-end update on the local machine and it not affect the back-end table data?

Answer 1

Yes, you can work on the front-end part and deploy it without affecting the back-end. (Just make sure to keep track of any table structure changes you might need to make on your PC.)

One thing to keep in mind is the table references. If the "live" system is referencing a file share, then you might have to update the table references every time you deploy. Not a big deal maybe, but you can get around this by setting up a map path on the live computer and on your PC-- that way both can refer to, say, "z:\mydata.mdb".