asked on

Access/VBA to Flowchart

Hi Experts,

I have a pretty large program in Access that I need to re-write into web-based, and I wondering is there any tool that can read the VBA code of a given form or module and create a flowchart or report?

Thanks

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

TommySzalapski

membership

Create a free account to see this answer

Signing up is free and takes 30 seconds. No credit card required.

See answer

PatHartman

Total Access Analyzer does a pretty good job of depicting the structure behind your application - www.fmsinc.com

Before you commit to converting to a web app, make absolutely certain that you can actually replicate the existing functionality. Most client/server apps cannot be reproduced as web apps due to lack of support for important features like reports (a list rendered in a web page is NOT a report), email, word/excel automation, temp tables, charts, etc. Not to mention that you will need to learn a new arcane language - macros. They don't work the way programmers work and there is no tool that can give you a good overview of what's behind a form. If you think you have trouble now, you're in for something really hard to work with. You will have little to no control over layouts and color so if you are reliant on those things, they're gone.

Start by examining the list of macros. Then consider the possibility of a hybrid app. What do you actually need web access for? Do people really need the complete functionality when they are off site? Are you trying to expose an interface for clients, i.e. users who don't belong to your domain and so cannot use the LAN to get to the database? Don't forget the possibility of Citrix. That solution will require NO changes to the existing application.

Having worked for years to create client/server apps, I personally hate web apps. I don't like their flatness, I don't like their slowness. I hate all the scrolling they make me do. I find them to be generally unfriendly. Except for being pretty, they are almost as limited as the CICS transactions I was creating with COBOL in the 1970's. I have had several applications that I created replicated as web apps (not Access web apps) and in all cases, the users were unhappy with the results.

Make sure you are going into this with your eyes open.