I just got a call from Radiation Safety and they are looking to do these
types of things also.  I told him to join the listserve and propose his
problem for a possible solution.  The flock is growing.
 
Please look for future postings by them and respond if you can be of any
help.
 
Thanks

        -----Original Message-----
        From: Cacy, Jim R. 
        Sent: Wednesday, June 19, 2002 3:16 PM
        To: [log in to unmask]
        Subject: HanDBase WorkAround
	
	
        HanDBase is probably one of the oldest PDA databases.  They
started with the Palm OS, but they recently came out with a PocketPC
version and an ODBC driver.  It's nice and stable, reasonably easy to
use, and their support is pretty good.  And it's relatively cheap.  Oh,
it's also cross-platform compatible.  If you develop for Palm, you can
use the database on a PocketPC and vice versa.  Or you can develop in
the desktop and install the database to either Palm or PocketPC (there
are separate executables for the Palm and the PocketPC.)
         
        HanDBase has its limitations, one of the worst being is that
there is currently no way to sync multiple users into one big central
database.  HanDBase creates a default folder for each PDA that syncs
with the local machine, so that each user has his or her own folder,
data segregated from others.
         
        Until the ODBC driver came along, the only way to merge multiple
users was by hand, exporting one table at a time into a spreadsheet or
database where you could then use those tools to merge data from
multiple users.   With the ODBC driver you still have to do everything
on the local machine under one user logon (so that all PDA folders go
into the same My Documents folder), but once you get everything set up
the PDAs will automatically transmit  their data into one Access
database where you can set up standard queries to run merges, different
views, etc.  That is, you will still have one table for each user,
linked into a receiving Access database, but each table will be sync'ed
with that user when he or she syncs, without you having to do manual
exporting etc.  (Note:  Don't have the Access database open when someone
syncs, or it won't update.  Also, if you add data on the PDA, you have
to close HanDBase before it will sync.)
         
        Like I said, so far I've only been able to get this to work on
the local machine.  You have to use the default folder that HanDBase
creates within the My Documents folder of the logged-on user, which
gives you a separate folder for each PDA.  And the Access database
you're using to create ODBC links to the multiple tables has to be on
the local machine (i.e. a user type ODBC datasource).  It would really
be cool if the Access database could be on a server and still receive
data from the machine doing the sync'ing, but HanDBase doesn't seem to
be there yet.  The help file for the ODBC driver seems to indicate that
you can define a user, system, or file DSN, but so far I've only gotten
the user DSN to work.  Maybe we can hear from some ODBC gurus for some
tips and tricks here.
         
        Anyway, for those of you using HanDBase and having to spend a
lot of time patching data together from multiple users, this is a
workaround that can ease things up a bit.  I don't know yet how robust
it is, but I will report back after I give it a workout with some sample
data.
         
        Jim