As part of a demo database I was working on, I thought it would be useful it the user could click on a button and it would bring them directly to the procedure of interest.
So, if this can be useful to anyone else, here is the simple procedure to accomplish this.
Now here’s a question we see all the time in the various forums.
As usual, there are a number of ways to accomplish this and which one you should use has a lot to do with your needs and abilities.
In this post, I’m going to briefly discuss the 3 most popular approaches:
So let’s dive in!
I thought I’d take a second to explain what Microsoft Access Runtime is, and is not.
In the simplest terms, Microsoft Access Runtime is a stripped down version of Access in which the developer/design tools have been removed/disabled, including VBA tools. So you can run existing databases, run their code, …, but any ability to edit them (objects or code), create new objects, etc is disabled or removed.
I also want to be 100% clear here, runtime locks down editing the database objects and code, not the data itself. So in runtime, users can still fully work with the data as you have allowed them to do (full CRUD). It just limits their ability to alter the actual “program”.
The primary purpose of the Microsoft Access Runtime version/edition is to enable people who don’t already have Microsoft Access installed to get a free version that allows them to fully work with any existing Microsoft Access database or in some instances it is a means to restrict the end-users abilities to edit the database (even if they already had the full version of Access)
As mentioned above, Microsoft Access Runtime is typically installed for users that do not already have a Full licensed version of Access. So long as your user does not need to create and/or edit database objects such as: Forms, Report, VBA code, … then the FREE Microsoft Access Runtime will be perfect for them and allow them to run and use any existing database.
So with Microsoft Access Runtime you can fully utilize any existing database solutions, you simply can’t develop them! You can still use forms, reports, execute the macros & code contained within, you just can go into design view, enter the VBA Editor (VBE), …
So Runtime allows you to distribute your database to user that do not already have Microsoft Access at absolutely no cost! Since Office 2007, Microsoft Access Runtime is Free.
Any experienced developer knows all to well that you need to segregate Production and Development versions of a database. Moreover, most will even have a 3rd environment, a Testing environment.
Now, one can always use the Linked Table Manager, with all its flaws (both in design and in functionality), and manually go through the dialogs and relink the tables, but often we see questions on forums regarding a better method for people, such as developers, who need to do this regularily.
So, I decided to see what I could put together and this is what I came up, The Back-End Environment Switcher, with for the typical setup.
It has three components:
This is yet another proof of concept that I developed while trying to help someone in a forum. The simple idea here was to be able to display multiple attachments in one view rather than needing to go through them, one by one.
In the example below, we have a main ‘Product’ form with a ‘Product Images’ subform which will display the various image associated to the currently shown product.
The above proof of concept is very simple and satisfied the person’s need, but I wanted to take thing further and make it a complete attachment management tools. So I’ve been working, and am currently testing, the next version which will include
Here’s what it will look like
Another request we see in various forums is how to launch a URL in an alternate web browser and not use Internet Explorer or whatever the default browser happens to be on a given PC.
Luckily for us, FireFox accepts command line switches for such automation.
In some cases, especially when trying to upgrade older databases (mdb -> accdb) it becomes useful to automate certain processes instead of having to manually edit every form/report … One aspect that can be very useful to automate is the switch from using a Toolbar to a Ribbon, as Toolbars get relinquished to the Add-in tab which is less than ideal.
In a recent discussion with MVP Alumni Bill Mosca he brought to our attention an issue he was having trying to perform such an update. After some digging and testing, we were indeed able to confirm that there appears to be a bug in VBA with regards to trying to set a value for the Form/Report Toolbar property.
So a line such as the following does not work
Reports("YourReportName").Report.Toolbar = ""
'Or
Reports("YourReportName").Toolbar = ""
'Or
Reports("YourReportName").Report.Toolbar = "YourToolbarName"
Another common request every now and then is how to launch another database from within the current database. As always, there are a number of ways of handling this, below are a few:
A Naming Convention is simply a standard rule (could be through the use of prefixes, suffixes, typographical convention (syntax styling) such as CamelCase, …) that you apply when creating names for :
Simple, to standardize your work and make it easier to follow.
For instance, take a simple example of
Public Sub Demo()
For cars = 0 To 10
Accident = DateAdd("d", cars, Date)
Debug.Print Accident
Next cars
End Sub
what is Accident and cars? Strings, Integer, Long, …?
Now, if you implement a basic naming convention and prefix all your VBA date variables with dt for Dates and i for Interger numbers you get
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With all the ongoing issues with Access/Office 2016 and the updates coming out of Microsoft, it has become a necessity to know how to Update and Revert (Microsoft’s new term for Uninstalling Updates) Access. I’ve already tried to cover the subject of Reverting your Office/Access installation in my previous post Microsoft Office 365 – Uninstall an Update. So today, I thought I’d cover the subject of performing a manual update.
Unlike Reverting, Updating is surprisingly easy!