5.5.2  Back Up Application

The Back Up Application tool offers the same two choices as does the tool to Back Up Data.  It produces a view of the folder already containing your copy of DS-Access, but with browsing capacity to other areas of your computer, so that you may choose where you'd like the backup to reside.  It assigns a name to the backup file that includes the date on which you are performing the backup; you are, of course, free to change the backup file's name, but we strongly encourage you to retain the date-stamp aspect of the default name.

This might appear ho-hum.  In fact, Microsoft has given us quite a nice feature, here, new to Access 2003:  the ability to back up a database that is open and running.  Aren't you impressed?

At the same time, you might wonder what goal is achieved by backing up the application since all DS partners share the same one, and if somehow your particular application disappeared, you could always get a new one from DS Central.  Yes, it's true, you could.  But there are some bits of data in your copy of the application that are unique to your institution:  the Institution and Repository codes and the pattern for generating URLs for your images. In addition, the front end contains the licensing statement; while its information isn't unique to your copy of the application, it is specific, in telling you which particular version of the interface (a.k.a. the application, the part called dsdbms) and which particular version of the schema (a.k.a. the back end, the tables, the part called dsdata) you have been working with.