Access 2003

Access 2003 Technical Articles

In this section of the MSDN Library, you’ll find technical articles that demonstrate how to build and deploy complex Access 2003 runtime-based solutions, automate Access from another application; use the new XML features in Access 2003, and even how you can animate Access 2003. You can use the TOC to your left to navigate through…

switchboard

How to Display a Form Automatically when your Application Opens

This is a quick tip on how to automatically display a form when the user opens your Access Application. In addition to improving User Friendliness, your database design will also appear much more professional. The step by step instructions below will display the Switchboard form in figure 1 immediately upon the application opening. This will…

Normalize all constraints’ & indices’ names

Constraints that are created by SSMA or by user via SSMS tend to have ugly names. Worse, auto-generated names are not stable across backups. Meaning if you restore a new database based on a copy of another database, the constraint names will change. That create huge problems during migrations because scripts that references constraint will…

Use controls, not fields

Sometimes we need to use fields from a RecordSource that aren’t shown on the form. It is legal to reference them directly even if they don’t have a control. For example, we can have a form bound to a RecordSource like so:

And only display CompanyName in a textbox but not show the CompanyID….

Truthy and Falsy Values

“Truthy” and “Falsy” Values

VBA is quite very loose in what it deems “truthy” and “falsy”. For example, this procedure can produce surprising result:

At the first glance, it seems expected that if the bit field is set to 1, it would succeed. But in fact, it wouldn’t because True is equivalent to -1, not 1. Unless we…

Unrecognized Database Format

Access 2010: Unrecognized Database Format

I’ve been seeing more and more people having problems with the Unrecognized Database Format when creating or modifying an Access 2007 (accdb) format database in Access 2010 and then trying to open it again in Access 2007. The issue appears to be that Access 2010 does not have its own file format. When you add a…

ID vs Code

There are cases where a table’s primary key is referred to often in the code. In fact, it might have some special meanings in code. It is highly encouraged to avoid the use of IDENTITY or AutoNumber (or any auto-incrementing schema) for those keys because it is also usually desirable to create a VBA Enum…

Hardware Recommendations For Running Access

Hardware matters. Invest in a faster PC and your Microsoft Access databases will run faster. Be alert for sellers packaging fast processors with minimal memory and a slow hard drive to keep prices low. Look at all aspects of the purchase when database speed is a priority. A faster hard drive is worth the investment…

Access Developer Extensions

Access 2007: Access Developer Extensions

The Microsoft Office Access 2007 Developer Extensions make it easy to deploy and manage solutions built using Microsoft Access. The Access 2007 Developer Extensions provide packaging and deployment tools and licensing and distribution agreements to make it easier for developers to bring solutions to market. Whether you are working in a small business or a…