VBA is quite very loose in what it deems “truthy” and “falsy”. For example, this procedure can produce surprising result: If Me.MyBitField.Value = True Then ‘It is true Else ‘It is false End If At the first glance, it seems expected that if the bit field is set to 1, it would succeed. But in…
Why does Excel have a problem when using code in Access?
When you use code to refer to Excel (and other programs as well) you need to be careful not to use any code that does not refer back to the instantiated application object. If you do so then you will find that Access instantiates another Excel (or other program) object which is not visible to…
Enable and Disable a Form Control using VBA
I was working on a design for an Order Management Database, and one of the tasks I dealt with involved dynamically Enabling or Disabling one of the form’s Command Buttons’ using VBA. This gave me the idea for the present Access tip. The command button was located on a Customer Details form which had an Orders…
Use TryGet pattern for transient values
A number of objects may have extra properties or something where it might not exist for all instances. A good example might be finding Controlsource property on an Access.Control variable: For Each ctl In Me.Controls Debug.Print ctl.ControlSource ‘A potential error Next Not all controls have a ControlSource property and thus can fail to run. A…
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: SELECT c.CompanyID, c.CompanyName FROM Companies; And only display CompanyName in a textbox but…
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…
Prefer compile time errors over run time errors
In VBA, there are several features that allow us to do things that may not be checked at the compile time. In particular, it is possible to write several late-bound expressions which means that it can potentially contain run-time errors. One common misconception about late-binding is that it’s a matter of adding a reference and…
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…
Using Microsoft Access Data in a Mail Merge
Suppose you have an Access Database containing the names and addresses of your customers. Every now and again you may want or need to send a standard letter to each customer who has opted in to such mailings. However, you are aware that these letters are going to look so much better, and work so…
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…








