Replacement for MS Access?

[Maury]

I am a former Win user who did a lot of Office Automation programming, mostly using Access and Excel. Excel is available on the Mac and works well enough, but Access is not, and I'm looking for a replacement. I've looked at FileMaker Pro, but it seems very dated.

My perfect Access replacement would:

1) use ODBC for _all_ connections (no "internal" or "attached" database engine)
2) default to using the OSX's built-in SQL engine, but allow easy sharing
3) work on a "drag and drop" basis for drawing forms
4) support some sort of scripting that's useful - I haven't use AppleScript under OSX, but under Classic OS it was uselessly slow.

Any suggestions on what I should try?

Maury

 

[MisterMe]

.... Excel is available on the Mac and works well enough, but Access is not, and I'm looking for a replacement. I've looked at FileMaker Pro, but it seems very dated.

...

What do you mean by "seems very dated"? It's a DBMS, not a Lady Ga-Ga video. The capabilities of DBMS has been pretty much set since FileMaker went Pro and 4D got speed. Unlike Access, I have never heard of 4D or FileMaker Pro ever losing user data.

If you need Access-compatibility on the Mac, then you should look into Oracle's OpenOffice.org or the Java-based OOo clone, NeoOffice. Both are solid, reputable, productivity suites. They are free and they are the only options for Access on the Mac.

 

[Maury]

What do you mean by "seems very dated"?

As in "looks like something written 15 years ago and continually patched so it just barely works".

The UI was terrible, and it forced me into a pattern of operation that was utterly unlike Access' "draw some field, type in the SQL and go".

Maury

 

[MisterMe]

As in "looks like something written 15 years ago and continually patched so it just barely works".

The UI was terrible, and it forced me into a pattern of operation that was utterly unlike Access' "draw some field, type in the SQL and go".

Maury

Just because an application doesn't look like it was written by Microsoft doesn't make it dated. If Access were all that, then someone would have developed a Mac-based DBMS that apes the MS look and feel. It is telling that no one has done so. It is particularly telling that FileMaker Pro historically has been the No. 2 DBMS among Windows users.