[Solved] Frustrated new user

[Keith]

I just downloaded OA and I'm so frustrated with the documentation that I'm considering going with LLBLGen or other ORM.

Before I jump ship, can anyone give me specific instructions (or links) to get me started?

I'm using VS 2010, VB, WinForms.

Most of the samples I've found are in C# and indecipherable to me.

In some tutorials, it says I need to create a new project using the OpenAccess template, create the DB connection, and then create the WinForms project in the same Solution and somehow link them together.

Other tutorials seem to show I can just add OA features to an existing WinForms project without having a separate OA project.

I've tried both methods and I just cant follow the tutorials. Somewhere along the way, I do something wrong and can't get it to work.

I'm an expert VBA programmer in MS Access -- for 17 years. But, I'm new to Visual Studio and absolutely new to ORM. But, I'm not totally green. I just need clear instructions.

It's frustrating to search for help and have to sift out ASP and WPF and C# and all that stuff. I just wish there was one source to follow that dealt with VB WinForms.

Thanks!

[Keith]

Oh, and what adds to my frustration is that a bunch of the tutorials and videos still reference older versions, so my screens and menus don't match the tutorial.

I hope you accept this as sincere customer feedback and not whining and complaining.

[Ivailo]

Hi Keith,

We understand your frustration and we are truly sorry for your first experience with the product - your feedback will be taken into account and addressed.

Let me try to help you with some useful tips and proper resources, I hope you will be able to get your project going while using them.

1) Referring to your other forum post I have responded to, you can find some useful video resources for getting started. They are at a beginners level and they don't deal with any specifics of using OpenAccess.

2) To get to WinForms specifics, you can use the relevant documentation tutorial. We believe it is up to date, but in case you find any discrepancies in it please let us know and we will support you in a timely manner so that your learning process is not interrupted.

3) You can download and use our free SDK where you will find plenty of VB.NET examples, including one sample using Win Forms listed in the "Windows Forms" category. It is a bit more complex - the model is not directly referred by your User Interface, but is accessed through a WCF service.

In general, you can use OpenAccess domain model in your solution in three different ways:
- add it in the project where your win forms reside - suitable for small projects 

- create a class library and use it from other projects in your solution - have in mind that you need to execute some simple manual steps for configuring such scenario, as described here. This is the option I would recommend you to use.

- use WCF services to provide data access to your user interface code. This is the most complex scenario and you can see it in action in the SDK as described in point (3) above.

Kindly let us know if you need any further information.

Regards,
Ivailo
the Telerik team