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…

Microsoft Access File Extensions

Microsoft Access saves information under the following file formats: File Format Extension Access Project (2007, 2010) .adp Access Blank Project Template (2007, 2010) .adn Access Database (2007, 2010, 2013, 2016) .accdb Access Record-Locking Information (2007, 2010, 2013, 2016) laccdb Access Web App Reference .accdw Access Signed Packages .accdc Access Database, used for Add-ins .accda Access…

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….

Access Web Apps

Access Web Apps to be retired

It was announced that Access Services is going to be retired. Details of the announcement may be found here: Updating the Access Services in SharePoint Roadmap. Additional timeline information along with possible methods for exporting your data out of an Access web app may be found here: Access web apps no longer supported. While these articles…

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…

Hiding the Navigation Pane with VBA

Once you have created an Access Database Application to be used by other people, it may well be important for you to prevent users from gaining access to any of its design features. By this I mean, you may not want users to modify your tables, forms and queries etc in design view (inadvertently or…

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…

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…

Pivoting a dynamic set

SQL Server does not allow for a dynamic set, which can be problematic if you need to pivot based on the data that comes from rows and you can have various values in the column. In general, you need a stored procedure and dynamic SQL in order to handle the dynamic pivots. This requires uses…

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…