Access v Delphi 2

[andyly]

I'm in a dilemma. I have an application to create that is essentially a straightforward standalone database. I am wondering whether to use Access 2000 alone, or to use a Delphi front end to sit on top of an Access database.

I'm tempted to use Delphi simply because I'd like to learn how to use it, but I'm wondering if I might be creating unnecessary complexity for myself as there would be a much steeper learning curve, and I don't have forever to complete the task. I have used Access before and I know SQL and database theory so I'm not a beginner, but I haven't used Pascal at all which I presume I would need to get to grips with before getting real benefit from Delphi. Are there great problems with creating it first in Access and then migrating the interface to Delphi as it expands, or is this a messy and inefficient approach?

Both are very fine applications I've no doubt, but does anyone have any advice about which is the better way to go here? Thanks in advance.

 

[gwinn7]

It all depends on how complicated you want to make your life!

Delphi is essentially "Visual PASCAL". PASCAL is a completely different language than VB/VBA. Since Access 2000 uses VBA, you will probably be better off being that VBA is used in so many other applications (e.g. Windows Scripting Host, Office Applications, etc.) and Delphi is not nearly as widespread and I am unsure of its future. I would elect to learn Access 2000 VBA over Delphi hands down. Just my opinion. It all depends on what your needs are and that of your client.

Gary
gwinn7

 

[PerryG]

I would recommend that if you are somewhat under the gun time-wise on this project go with what you already know. I would strongly recommend that you take the time to learn Delphi if you can. The language is significantly different from VBA but it is a very elegant language with a lot of depth. I was doing Delphi a couple of years ago and loved it, but it never really caught on here in Denver. If the market was here, I probably would still be doing it.