Linux guy seeks help w/MS Access/Python

[Alex Martelli]

<mksql at my-deja.com> wrote in message
news:p304qscihjr0mppktp22us299eppfgva55 at 4ax.com...
    [snip]
> Most often, I have used Python with Access databases to convert the
> data into a more useful form (like _ASCII_), so that the data and
> views can be ported into a more robust platform. As a matter of fact,

Nowadays one would probably use XML as the intermediate 'more useful
form' for porting, since it's easily transformed (XSLT) and imported
by all kinds of platforms.  ADO 2.5 (the current version) makes it
even easier to handle XML, by the way.

> The combination of Python, Pythonwin, and the DAO/ADO/ADOX COM
> libraries made this task nearly easy! I have not used VB since.

Since I discovered Python, my only use for VB has been [a] patching
together a q&d gui (I prefer dynamic HTML, but for patching together
a rough gui in 10 minutes VB's IDE is fast...), [b] testing that my
components are indeed VB-interoperable (since I release Automation
components that need to be callable from anywhere, VB foremost).

One does need 'just enough VB do get by', for the sole reason that
the docs that come with every kind of COM/Automation object models
always assume VB is going to be the controller, and so use VB syntax
in the examples &tc.  But, fortunately, that doesn't mean having to
USE the thing -- just surviving the need to read a few lines of
code expressed in its syntax:-).


Alex