How about Microsoft Access as a client-side content management tool? After playing around with Radio UserLand and CityDesk, I’m finding more and more utility in a client-side apps. They’re responsive, they don’t need to be connected (great for laptops or dial-up), and you can do a lot more with a client-side user interface than a browser-based interface.
So, I got to thinking the other day, how about hot-rodding Microsoft Access into a client-based CMS? Microsoft VBA is a very competent langauge, and it essentially gives you a fully-functional Windows interface inside of an Access file.
You could easily develop a set of VBA forms that allowed WYSIWYG entry, category assignment, publishing management, etc. These forms would just modify underlying Access tables in that same file. Everything would be self-contained and it could generate and FTP files to a remote server (or file-copy, if you were on the same network as your server).
For all its faults, Access is an extremely mature data storage app, so you get all the functionality of a true, relational database backend with the full functionality of a Visual Basic application interface.
I’m not going to write this, but I wish someone would.
XSLT Questions and Answers.: I've been thrust back into the world of XSLT while I tinker with Microsoft Access as a client-based CMS. I had forgotten how frustrating XSLT can be. Effects that are so easy in any number of programming languages require reams of markup to reproduce…
New XML Features in Microsoft Office Access 2003: I've talked before about how Access would make a handy client-side publishing tool, a la Radio or CityDesk. Just this week, I've been doing some Access user interface programming, and I've been impressed with how good it is in that regard. However,…
I agree, but Access and VBA are a lot more accessible than a compiled VB/MSDE app would be. The development environment for VBA is built right into Access, as is the data layer. I was kind of pushing for ease of development, though I can see your point.
What's the cost/licensing model of the MSDE? One strength Access always had was a pretty low cost - which you have to figure on smaller projects. Being able to quickly make changes while on-site without the whole recompile process was great.
Using Access as a website generator isn't a bad idea...after years of trying to shoe-horn everything into the browser the idea of developing a client-side application sounds....fun! ;)
Has anyone tried building such application? I wish that could be offered free open source. Look forward to see my wish coming true one day. :)
