ACCESS   SQL SERVER   VISUAL BASIC   .NET   POCKET PC 

Welcome to the latest issue of Aztec's quarterly newsletter. We aim to help keep you up to date with Microsoft's development tools and database technologies, and to let you know how we're using them at Aztec to provide solutions to our customers.

In this issue:

1. Postcode Lookup Web Service
2. Microsoft Access - the .Net Super-Wizard?
3. You could be a Life Saver
4. London Database Developer Forum

1. POSTCODE LOOKUP WEB SERVICE

The chances are that your organisation has at least one application that captures address information. Have you considered using postcode lookup software to speed the capture of address information and improve the accuracy of your address data? Up until recently it's been rather expensive to implement postcode lookup functionality, involving the payment of substantial annual licence fees. Now there is a low cost web service that brings postcode addressing within everyone's budget. Postcode Anywhere's .Net web service can be integrated into any desktop or browser based application, allowing searches by postcode, street or organisation name from as little as £50 per year. And because it's a web service, you don't need to worry about installing the latest updates to the address database (PAF file). In fact your users always have access to the latest data, just as soon as Postcode Anywhere update their central servers. Here at Aztec we're very keen on the service. We've built our own Postcode Wizard to manage the user interaction with the service and signed up as a Postcode Anywhere reseller. Following a successful implementation for Booktrust, we're keen to help all our clients make use of this exciting new service.

2. MICROSOFT ACCESS - THE .NET SUPER-WIZARD?

Whilst participating in a debate on the future of Access at the Access User Group's national seminar recently, Aztec's senior consultant Jerry Legg offered his view that a future version of Access could evolve into a "super wizard" for developing desktop .Net applications. Access developers have always known that Access is just about the most productive environment for building applications quickly and cost effectively. But what happens when the application becomes ever more popular and has to manage increasing numbers of users and larger amounts of data? As we've mentioned before in this newsletter, you can always upgrade the back end to SQL Server, but in some situations it becomes necessary to upgrade the front end too, whether to improve scalability or conform to preferred architectures. If and when an Access application reaches this stage, wouldn't it be great to pull the application into Visual Studio.Net and continue development in this more sophisticated environment?

3. YOU COULD BE A LIFE SAVER

According to the London Fire Brigade, nearly 60% of people who die in fires are aged 60 or over. The Brigade’s Community Fire Safety team have launched a campaign targeted at vulnerable older people, offering a free fire safety check of their home and the installation of smoke alarms where needed. At Aztec we’re aware of the initiative as we developed the database application that helps the Fire Safety team record requests for visits, allocate them to a nearby fire station and ultimately record whether a smoke alarm was fitted. You too could be life saver. If you know of an older person living in the London area, or members of their family or their carer, and you think they might benefit from a home fire safety check, you can find more information, telephone freephone 08000 28 44 28 or email smokealarms@london-fire.gov.uk.

4. LONDON DATABASE DEVELOPER FORUM

At the last LDDF meeting at Microsoft’s Soho offices, Aztec’s Anoop Patel gave a presentation on report authoring, management and delivery using SQL Reporting Services. Anoop demonstrated the creation of free-form, tabular, chart and crosstab (pivot table) reports, showed how users could navigate and drill down through reports, outlined the various output formats including html and pdf, and discussed the distribution of reports via email. If you would like more information about SQL Reporting Services, feel free to contact Anoop at anoop.patel@azteccomputing.com.