Access® 2010 Bible

Chapter 37. SQL Server as an Access Companion

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Linking to SQL Server tables

• Understanding SQL Server database objects

Microsoft has increasingly positioned Access as a gateway to SQL Server data. SQL Server, of course, is Microsoft's flagship enterprise database engine, and it's frequently used to drive mission-critical applications for tens of thousands of companies around the world. Because of its excellent scalability, fault tolerance, transaction logging, and other features, SQL Server is often used as the data store behind large Web sites, for data warehousing, and for business intelligence purposes.

Depending on installation specifics, SQL Server is able to serve many thousands of users simultaneously. From SQL Server's perspective, an Access application making requests for data is just another user — and it's treated no differently from any other client.

Access projects are used to create and maintain SQL Server Express databases, or SQL Server Enterprise databases. You can also use an Access project to create the user-interface objects and forms, reports, macros, and modules that utilize data from SQL Server. The database window for a project looks very similar to the Access database window you're already accustomed to. In fact, creating the user-interface objects is virtually the same as creating them in Access.

Note

This chapter uses a database named Chapter37.accdb. If you haven't already copied it onto your machine from the CD, you'll need to do so now. The CD ...