Which Technologies Should You Use?

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The first critical design decisions you must make are what type of application you want to create and which application or technologies to use as the basis for your application. Applications you create with Microsoft® Office XP are likely to fall into one of the following broad categories: data-management applications, document templates, add-ins, and Web applications — either with or without a data-management component.

Each of the Office applications is better suited to some applications than to others. Deciding which to use requires some familiarity with the strengths and weaknesses of each of them.

In This Section

• Workflow: Technology Backgrounder
  You generally use the term workflow to describe applications that are modeled as business processes.
• Where Should You Store Data?
  Access existing data directly through OLE DB or through Open Database Connectivity (ODBC).
• Building Add-ins, Wizards, and Templates
  Learn how add-ins, wizards, and templates help users do their jobs more efficiently.

Related Sections

• Designing Applications
  Understand how planning a good effective design can mean delivering the application that customers require.
• The Design Process
  Identify your customers and their wants and requirements before you begin designing an application.
• Thinking About User Interface Design
  Understand how an effective user interface is an important aspect to application design.
• Designing Code for Reusability
  Maximize the reusability of your code by spending some time thinking about how to structure your code within the application.
• Security Considerations
  Protect your intellectual property by securing your code and protect your application from viruses and unwelcome users.
• Testing Your Application
  Test your code to make sure that each part of the application works as expected.
• Application Deployment
  After you develop an application, you can distribute it to users.