Multi-User Disclaimer
- If
you administrate a P&V workgroup, please READ THIS.
Parts&Vendors uses the Microsoft® JET®
Database Engine to open and manipulate its data files. This program
"back end" has proven itself by being part of Microsoft's own
Access® database program, as well as part of thousands of
independently developed data applications. Over a period of years, JET has
shown itself to be reliable and robust.
Like many other programs, multiple copies of P&V can
open a single data file in shared mode. It is to the credit of the
operating system programmers that this can be done in Windows and DOS, and
is almost like getting multi-user operation for "free."
However, unlike larger (more expensive) client/server
systems, JET® does not just retrieve the records of interest.
Rather, each copy of JET® (on each P&V workstation) opens
the WHOLE database and brings the entire file across the network to work
with it.
At any moment, your workgroup P&V data can be scattered
across the network, in memory at several P&V workstations.
The integrity of the data file is therefore dependent
upon "well behaved" operation of the network and its associated
P&V workstations.
Ultimately, the definition of a "well behaved"
system is: One that does not corrupt your data file.
Most multi-user installations work just fine,
as evidenced by a multitude of installations on all kinds of networks used
by our customers. Here at Trilogy Design we use large (10-20meg), shared
databases on a mixed Windows platform network and have not had a
multi-user induced data file failure --ever (or should we say,
yet). Time will tell whether your own system meets the above
criteria.
The final analysis of all
this points to one important act of self-defense and common sense:
Back up your data file
EVERY SINGLE DAY! (Answer this question: What other
file do you have that holds data from ALL of your projects?)
Backing up is easily done from within P&V.
When all other users have exited the file, choose File...Copy (Backup) and
pick a location on another computer on your network, or on a Zip drive.
You could also create a shortcut on your Desktop to copy the file from
outside of P&V. Or, create a scheduled event (using Windows
facilities for this) to run a batch file to copy the file at a particular
time each day.
Please do not call Tech Support with a tear in your eye
and a story about how your data file is corrupted and your most recent
backup is two weeks old! While we will do our best to help,
please be advised that Trilogy Design is not a data recovery service.
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