Creating forms then a database to store the info

[Former Community Member]

I posted this question on the Acrobat forum, then realized perhaps I should be here. All of the different software is mindboggling to me. I am trying to find the proper platform to create forms to be filled out by customers with product problems or complaints, then the data entered would be dropped into a database for retrieval and review at the company. Other than the contact information, the questions used would mostly be Y or N, not open ended. I have Designer 7.0 but I'm not sure if this is the proper way to go. And if it is, how do I go about getting the data from the forms to a usable format. I did a customer survey a few months ago in Designer (my first attempt at using it), and tho I got back usable info, manipulating it into a database was not exactly smooth. In review the forums I found LiveCycle Forms. Should I be asking there?



I'm sure there is a good way to do this, I just don't know how to wade thru all of the potential software to find what I need. As a mainframe programmer in a former life, I know all of this is possible, I just need some direction. Thanks for any help you can offer.



Dazed and Confused,

Deb

[Former Community Member]

When you say you got back usable data I assume this was via email. You could open this data into a form that was connected to a local data base and save the date there with Adobe Acrobat Pro.



Look at "Creating a data connection to a data base " in Designer help.



Rich Ruiz

www.Novanis.com

[Former Community Member]

OK, that looks promising but it says "OLEDB is the only database connection that you can connect to from Designer". What is a OLEDB Database?



Deb

[Former Community Member]

following link provides a reasonable description of OLEDB

http://database.ittoolbox.com/documents/popular-q-and-a/odbc-vs-oledb-2412



In summary, is says

"OLEDB is the successor to ODBC, a set of software components that allow a "front end" such as GUI based on VB, C++, Access or whatever to connect with a back end such as SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, mySQL etal. In many cases the OLEDB components offer much better performance than the older ODBC.



OLEDB is a different type of data provider that came about with MS's Universal Data Access in 1996 and does not require that you set up a DSN. It is commonly used when building VB apps and is closely tied to ADO. It works with COM, and DCOM as of SQL 7.0."



So basically, is it a method to connect to the database. It does not restrict you to use a particular database product, as long as you find drivers for it - and most database providers also provide OLEDB drivers.



More info available all over the new using keyword OLEDB.



Have fun,

Sanna

[Former Community Member]

So am I reading correctly in "OLEDB is the successor to ODBC, a set of software components that allow a "front end" such as GUI based on VB, C++, Access", that Access IS a OLEDB database?



Deb

[Former Community Member]

OLEDB is not so much the database, but the access method to one.

But yes, that is the case - depending on the version of Access you are using.



Searching using keywords OLEDB Drivers in Access 2003 help provides this:



"Microsoft Access 2002 or later provides a native OLE DB (OLE DB: A component database architecture that provides efficient network and Internet access to many types of data sources, including relational data, mail files, flat files, and spreadsheets.) user and programming interface that you can use to access a Microsoft Access database (database: A collection of data related to a particular subject or purpose. Within a database, information about a particular entity, such as an employee or order, is categorized into tables, records, and fields.), a Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 7.0, or 6.5 database, and other data sources"



It also has a fair bit of detail information, I recommend you spend a bit of time reading.



Good luck,

Sanna

[Former Community Member]

Thank you for all your information and the references!



Deb