Location of Components

Because network file access is typically slower than local disk access, you might want to improve performance by storing some of your application’s components on the local workstation. With most network operating systems, you have a great deal of flexibility for controlling where various components of your multiuser application reside. For this discussion, components are grouped into two categories:

• Static components are the parts of your application that don’t change often. The dynamic-link libraries (.dll) and executable files (.exe) that make up the host program calling Microsoft Jet — such as Visual Basic, Microsoft Access, and Microsoft Excel — are examples of static components. Components in your application, such as forms, reports, and program code, are also static components.
  
  
• Active components are the files that contain the actual data that your application’s users access in a multiuser environment. These can include Microsoft Jet databases, external databases such as Microsoft FoxPro database files, or ODBC databases stored on database servers.

Because static components don’t often change, they are ideal candidates for workstation storage. In this scenario, you install the Microsoft Jet components and the host application on the local workstation along with your application’s static objects. Active components, such as your application’s data files, are stored on the network server. When you store static components on local workstations, you optimize performance but have to worry about updating objects on local workstations when the application’s design changes.

In situations where you would like greater control over modification of static components, or user workstations don’t have sufficient disk space, static components can be stored on the network. This has the obvious effect of increasing network traffic and reducing application performance, but it also minimizes administrative issues.