Access Web Apps – OK, Now What? EXTENDING ACCESS WEB APPS George Young Dawson Butte Software ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO

Access Web Apps  UI is HTML forms  Data is in SQL Server  HTML hosted in SharePoint  SQL database is hosted in Windows Azure (Azure SQL Database)  There is no client code! ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO

Access Web App vs. Access Client  Pros  Standardized User Interface  One-click Deployment  SQL Server (Azure SQL Database) Backend  Authentication handled by SharePoint  Cons  Limited User Interface Options  No VBA (just macros)  Requires SharePoint or Office 365 for Business  No inherent Report functionality ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO

OK, Now What?  Azure SQL Database means that the data is now available from anywhere  UI can be anything that can access a SQL Server database (including a full Access client)  The application can live outside of SharePoint  SharePoint / Office 365 / Active Directory authentication can be used, if desired ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO

Extending Access Web Apps Examples  Full Access Client application  Cloud Business App  App for SharePoint (MVC)  Active-Directory-Authenticated Web App (MVC)  Windows 8 Phone App (Web API) ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO

Full Access Client Application ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO  Use Web App database credentials to link tables using an ODBC connection  From within your Web App open in Access:  Click FILE to open the “Back Stage”  Click the Manage button in the Connections section  Indicate which type of connections and which locations to allow  Click the Manage button again and select View Connection Information  Create a Blank Desktop Database in Access  Create a Machine ODBC connection using these credentials  Link to the SQL database tables using the connection  Design your Client application

ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO

SQL Server Management Studio ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO  We can view our Web App data in Azure SQL Database in SSMS  If you haven’t already specified access From Any Location in your Web App:  Click FILE to open the “Back Stage”  Click the Manage button in the Connections section  Indicate From Any Location  Click the Manage button again and select View Connection Information  Copy that information somewhere handy (and secure, if production)  Open SSMS to a new connection and enter the credentials  Make sure to enter the database name on the Options tab  NOTE: Schema is managed in the Access designer, not in SSMS (unlike “normal” SQL Server)

ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO

Extending Access using Visual Studio ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO  Four examples:  Cloud Business App  App for SharePoint (MVC)  ASP.NET web app (MVC)  Windows 8 Phone App consuming an ASP.NET Web API interface to database  Cloud Business Apps and Apps for SharePoint live in SharePoint and require a “dev site”  ASP.NET web apps can live on any IIS server  Visual Studio 2013 Professional or Express Web/Phone (free)

Cloud Business App (Visual Studio) ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO  WYSIWYG development environment (between Access Web App and “normal” web app)  Can combine multiple data sources, including SQL Server, Azure SQL database, SAP, and SharePoint data (users, lists, etc)  Canned UI (set of templates)  View, Add, Edit and Search supported out of the box  Two components:  Server: Data Sources  HTML Client: Screens  Development:  Select Office/SharePoint > Cloud Business App  Specify SharePoint development site  Specify Data Source(s)  Design Screens  Run (deploys to SharePoint dev site)

ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO

App for SharePoint (Visual Studio) ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO  We now step away from “canned UI” to full-blown ASP.NET web apps that use the SQL database  App for SharePoint accessed in SharePoint  Can be MVC or Web Forms. We’ll use MVC.  Create the blank MVC Application  Open Visual Studio 2013 (or Visual Studio Express 2013)  Select File > New Project > Web > ASP.NET Web Application  Select MVC  Set Authentication to No Authentication  Uncheck Host in the Cloud  Connect to the Azure SQL Database  Right-click on the Models folder and select Add > ADO.NET Entity Data Model  Select EF Designer from Database  Click New Connection and enter the credentials  Select the six data tables  Save and Build

Quick Aside: What is MVC? ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO

App for SharePoint (Visual Studio) ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO  Development:  Select Office/SharePoint > App for SharePoint  Specify SharePoint development site  Specify Project type (MVC) and Authentication (Online or On-Premise)  Specify Data Source – Models (right-click) > Add > ADO.NET Entity Data Model  Build Solution  Generate Controller(s) and Views – Controllers (right-click) > Add > New Scaffolded Item  Run (deploys to SharePoint dev site)

ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO

Active-Directory Authenticated MVC Application ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO  Now, web applications that may be accessed anywhere (not just in SharePoint)  We can allow  Open (unauthenticated) access  Individual user access (stand-alone or federated)  Cloud Active Directory (SharePoint/Office 365) authentication  Azure Active Directory can be used to augment SharePoint/Office 365 Active Directory)  On-Premise Active Directory  We’ll build an ASP.NET MVC web application using cloud Active Directory  Select Web > ASP.NET Web Application  Specify MVC  Specify Organizational Authentication and enter your domain credentials  Generate site as for App for SharePoint  The web app is on the public internet, but access requires Active Directory authentication

ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO

Windows Phone 8 App ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO  We can also interact with our Access Web App database in mobile device apps  Two components:  Back end data interface: ASP.NET WebAPI  Front-end user interface: Windows Phone 8 (Databound App)

Windows Phone 8 App Backend: ASP.NET Web API ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO  Almost identical to MVC web application  Development:  New Project > Web > ASP.NET Web Application  Select Web API  Change Authentication to No Authentication  Generate Model as for App for SharePoint  Remove “virtual” keyword from generated classes  Add > New Scaffolded Item > Web API 2 Controller with actions  Run  Publish to Azure: Right click on project name > Publish

ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO

Windows Phone 8 App Frontend: Databound App  Windows Phone 8 Databound App  Broadest reach  Lots of churn in Universal Apps right now  Development:  New Project > Store Apps > Windows Phone Apps > Databound App (Windows Phone Silverlight)  Add Model class  Edit ItemViewModel.cs and MainViewModel.cs  Edit MainPage.xaml and DetailsPage.xaml  Run ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO

Summary  Access 2013/365 opens new scenarios for Access developers to extend their applications to:  SharePoint and Office 365  Public and authenticated web sites  Mobile device applications  Access developers might consider acquiring basic Visual Studio / MVC skills (or partnering with someone having them) to offer these new scenarios to their customers.  Access developers and their clients may benefit from “thinking outside of the box”.  The “classic” Access client forms application can still be at the center of this new web-based extensible set of applications. ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO

Resources  Please see the following web site for:  A list of resources for learning more about the applications covered in this talk  The sample Northwind Orders database used in these demos  A copy of this PowerPoint presentation  For additional questions or comments, please me at:  Thank you for attending Access Day Denver 2014! ACCESS DAY – OCTOBER DENVER, CO