Successful Software provides custom programming using Visual Basic, SQL Server, Microsoft Access, and Crystal Reports. Consulting services can be provided on a fixed price basis or on an hourly basis. Since 1981, we have provided custom programming for businesses in a variety of industries. (See the Projects page for some examples.) If you're looking for someone to create new software for your business, or need additional help to maintain or extend existing application software, feel free to call or email to discuss this further.

Applications can be created using Visual Basic and SQL Server, Visual Basic and Access, or Access alone. Custom reports done in Crystal Reports can be seamlessly integrated into a Visual Basic application. New databases can be designed and created in SQL Server or Access, or new programming can be done in Visual Basic to work with your existing SQL Server, Access, or ODBC / OLEDB / ADO compatible databases.

Visual Basic

Developing an application in Microsoft Visual Basic can result in a fast-performing application that is tailored to the specific look and feel you're after. Visual Basic's flexibility lends itself to development of applications ranging from large multi-user systems and distributed applications down to single-user applications and small utility programs.

Using Visual Basic in a 3-tier design

Visual Basic can be used to create presentation layer, business layer, and data layer components in a 3-tier design. The business and data middle tier components sit "between" the client programs and the database server. Requests for data from the client programs are passed to the middle tier components which retrieve the data and pass the results back to the client programs.

One advantage of this approach is that database resources are conserved. It is as though the database server "sees" fewer users out there than there really are, since the middle tier "pools" connections to the database. Another advantage of this type of design is scalability. As the number of users on your system grows, performance can be improved by distributing this load across additional "middle tier" machines (without the need for programming changes), thereby reducing the need for additional database servers.

Using Visual Basic custom programming to connect your computer with special purpose devices

Custom programming can be done with Visual Basic to interface various devices through your PC's serial communications port. These could be devices such as bar code readers, digitizers, optical mark readers, time clocks, or any other special purpose device capable of communication through an RS232 port.

If you are in need of creating an application capable of communicating with such devices, Visual Basic can be used either to create the complete application, or VB might be used only to create the portion that handles the communication. Because of Visual Basic's ability to create ActiveX .DLLs, the complexities of communicating with a device can be "wrapped" in a COM object that then exposes properties and methods for communicating with the device in a simpler way. You can then use the COM object with any other programming language that supports the COM interface.

Extend the power of Crystal Reports with Visual Basic

Visual Basic can be used to extend the power of Crystal Reports through the use of user-defined functions. Using VB, programming can be done to create additional functions in a .DLL that Crystal Reports will recognize. These custom functions then appear right along with the list of built-in functions when designing formulas in the Crystal Reports Designer.

One example of where this can be of benefit might be in creating functions to manipulate a special fiscal calendar that your company uses. Creation of functions such as these might mean that "power-user" employees familiar with Crystal Reports will be able to produce many more reports on their own with the aid of such functions, instead of having to pass those reports on to programming staff or outside consultants due to the complexity of calculations, etc.