Need to break out of Microsoft Access

I have an Access project which I wrote 10 years ago with minor modifications over the years. Recently, the project has been picked up by colleagues but we are having lots of logistical difficulties since we run a PC/Mac setup and the Mac users need to get their hands on a PC just to run the application.

I know that i need to break away from Access and rebuild it as a stand alone application that can be used on PC or Mac (and even iPad maybe) but I have no idea whatsoever about where to start. Obviously I am able to manage the Visual Basic in Access but am willing to branch out as necessary. I just don't know how to go about it.

I'm hoping that people can offer suggestions about what I might explore. I've considered paying someone to do it for me but I don't really want to go down that avenue until I know more about what I actually want to end up with.

So, in a nutshell, I need to write a standalone application that will take over from the Access project with database, forms and reports and easy access by both PC and Mac users (and/or maybe iPads).

Any advice about platform/language/approach gratefully received.

Consider building something web based. Writing working cross platform software (especially when iPad is one of your platforms) takes a lot of time and effort.

Thanks for that. I was starting to see that that would be the only cross platform solution.

With a bit of research that looks like PHP and MySQL is my best bet. Right?

Ok, here comes a steep learning curve, methinks!

you can easily create a cross platform application by using c#, the same peice of code will most likely run on windows/linux/mac/ipads ..etc

According to a quick google search, this is false. Please provide an example of how I can write an ipad/osx/windows native application in C#.

Chequer, look below this message to see the PHP new user guide. That should get you started on PHP/MySQL. The learning curve is steep and the task is daunting, however you already know many programming concepts and basic/advanced SQL.

-Dan

c# would not do 'native' like c++ , as it requires the .net runtime , which is not a big deal

in linux it can run using mono runtime

in mac , using mono runtime also

in ipad : http://ios.xamarin.com/IPad


i do not disagree with the suggestion of php/mysql, it just could be a different method of doing it, and it will end up depending on the environment or the application needed.