Well, you certainly have lots of moxy, but please be sure you aren’t trying to solve world hunger via the marketing hype of VB RAD, ADO, et al – building a productive, useful client/server app is a tall order. Is that polite enough warning to carefully consider knowing “enough to be dangerous?”

You have at least three major hurdles to cross: planning, design and implementation. In each, you want to be smart about your choices; make them Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time Oriented. I know free advice is cheap and I’m a dope; so here are a few ideas, in no particular order, for your consideration.

Do your research now. Personally, I’m a fan of the software development lifecycle (SDLC) process, but that, like QB7, is generally considered a dated methodology. Bone-up on the VB programming conventions that your programmers at work use and follow them. Download a copy of “Microsoft Windows NT Server Migration Lab” at http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/s...rlab/howto.asp and adapt its structure to what you intend producing. Make the time to learn to breathe chapters 3-7 of Sybase Unleashed (after using a bold marker to write “NEVER, NEVER!” over every mention of the alter table command). Get a dial-in connection to your server and build all but the gee-whiz GUI stuff server-side. Keep your sense of humor, this won't be a quick or easy task.