more on databases

[Ken Douglass <kdouglas@wvuhsc1.hsc.wvu.edu>]

Melissa:

I would also be interested in a dBase forum. 

I have a lot of our records in dBase III+ databases and programs which I
started putting together nine years ago. I am slowly converting to MS Access
on a network. I started with the areas which did not work well in dBase, for
example the film/ring badge reports. One nice thing about Access is that I
can write reports (which look better) using dBase data, without changing the
data entry programs (which still work pretty well).

I will second Jerry Rosen's comments about homemade vs commercial systems. I
enjoy database programming and our dBase programs have been working well for
many years, but I don't ever expect to achieve a comprehensive, smoothly
integrated system. The tradeof of course is that I can make our system work
the way we want it, not the other way round, and I am always available for
bug fixes, etc.

You get what you want and can afford.

Ken

Ken Douglass, Ph.D.
Director, Radiation Safety
West Virginia University
West Virginia University Hospitals
PO Box 9006 
Morgantown WV 26506
(304) 293-1549
kdouglas@wvu.edu