The GR-FX Newsletter

Working out the size of objects

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 08:54:22 +1000

Need to work out how big Access forms and reports are, read this post.

Auto Index Gotchas

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 08:53:15 +1000

Everywhere I go, Autoindexing is slowing down databases and adding extra size to tables.

Startup Options in Access 2003

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 08:52:01 +1000

Here are notes on how to change the startup options in Access 2003

A New Site Map for vb123.com

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 08:49:12 +1000

Here is a full expanded site map of all the articles at vb123.com

Time Clock

Wed, 7 Mar 2012 09:25:05 +1000

This article explains how to deploy a 24 Hour Clock popup sub form in your application.

Working out the size of objects in your database

Wed, 7 Mar 2012 09:23:04 +1000

Whenever we are called in to fix a database that is misbehaving, we always head for the old standards of Compact and Repair, decompile and exporting all the objects into a brand new database. When the dust settles and the database looks way too big for the information that you percieve is inside the database, there is nothing you can do to find out what is taking up all the space. This page discusses how you can use the two recent save to text posts to work out the size of objects. There is also a link that discusses unnecessary indexes as they too can bloat a database a few percent.

Indexed Words

Wed, 7 Mar 2012 09:22:01 +1000

Many years ago Microsoft wrote in its How to Write a Help Manual guide, that people were 30% more efficient when they used Indexed words to find the help they needed. Well if you didn't already know, vb123.com has hundreds of indexed words that you can use to find help topics. The picture below shows that you first click on the Key then start typing the Word and then click on the Word you want. If there is more than one page on the site that has that key Word, a list will be selected as in the figure. For those of you that have tried this before, I recently cleaned out a lot of words the cluttered your choices. Hopefully that will make it work even better.

Free Samples and Send Us Your Search Words

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:29:19 +1000

1) The page that describes the Smart Access collection that we sell has been simplified. There are 2 full sample editions of the magazine for you to review on this page

2) The Help and Manual search engine that I use on the site is a little slow but its pretty accurate. To assist you guys to find what you need I have setup a search interface using Google that features a number of key search terms. If you have key MS Access word/phrases that you think should be featured on this page, let me know by posting a comment at the bottom of the blog page

Drag and Drop in Microsoft Access

Tue, 7 Feb 2012 09:51:30 +1000

Many years ago, Microsoft wrote an article on how to drag and drop in Access 95, 97, 2000 and 2002. Then Doug Steele improved on that in an article for Smart Access in 2004. I have just tested the code in Access 2007 format and it works fine. If you like a bit of a coding challenge, the Access 2007 download and the samples are available here.

Overview: Are you using dynamic reports features like hyperlinks and colour in your database

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:48:00 +1000

This article shows you why you should think about making your reports dynamic (interactive) and it discusses colour highlighting using conditional formatting.

Article: All the VBA you need to save all the tables in your database to text format

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:46:40 +1000

Use the following example to export all the tables in a database to a comma-delimited text format

Article: How I use dropbox for stress free file transfers

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:45:07 +1000

In the following 6 pictures, I will show you how I move files to a remote PC using Dropbox.

Cascading Combo Boxes and Users Who Fill in Sub-forms before the Main Form

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 15:10:51 +1000

Andy Baron, authors of Access books and who is now working as a Natural Therapist, wrote an article for Smart Access answers way back in 1998. In this he discusses cascading combo boxes and keeping them in sync and problems you can have with users who fill in the sub-form before the main form.

Having problems handling text that includes quotation marks.

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:50:54 +1000

In this article, Doug Steele describes how you can handle quotations in SQL strings and queries that you may through at SQL Server. At the end of the article you may still be confused but at least you will know where to come back to when you next tackle this thorny problem. I personally like the cQuote/Chr$(34) solution, its the easiest to read.

Cool Tricks for the Sophisticated Developer

Thu, 3 Nov 2011 07:27:20 +1000

This month, Chris Weber addresses questions about report totals, splash screens, trapping keystrokes, managing control widths, when there's more in a memo than meets the eye, triple state check boxes and yes there is more..

Shrink-Wrapped or Do-it-yourself Queries

Thu, 3 Nov 2011 07:21:53 +1000

David Cornelius explains how to use multiple queries, both canned and custom-built, to build an application using only one form and a report. You can empower your users to become more productive and efficient.

Efficient SQL by Peter Vogel

Thu, 3 Nov 2011 07:14:15 +1000

Peter Vogel looks at some of the general issues around creating SQL queries that run quickly.

# Convert Access to SQL Server and then to .Net #

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:06:07 +1000

Upsize to SQL Server 2005 or 2008, easily repeated conversions, highly accurate SQL query translation, Then convert to .Net forms and reports in Reporting Services

User Interface Standards applied to Reports

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:07:41 +1000

Dennis Schumaker shows how to create reports that make sense to your users, along with the code to implement those reports within a set of standards.

Access Efficiency by Peter Vogel

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 07:55:59 +1000

When Peter wrote this column, he said that speeding up a database was his most lucrative consulting project task. Off course he always went for the easy target, too much data was being retrieved. But its not that easy. Have a read...

Matching Data for Analysis

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 22:14:13 +1000

In this article, Rickard Olsson shows how to compare rows in SQL by loading the desired data into two tables for easy comparison. In fact, he shows two different methods and tries to figure out which method will give the best performance.

Microsoft Access Forms—All Class

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 18:44:18 +1000

If object-oriented development seems foreign to you, it shouldn't. All forms are defined in class modules, and all executing forms are objects. Garry Robinson shows how to take advantage of this to create classy forms.

Access Developer Needs a Date

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 10:34:50 +1000

Doug Steele looks at problems with handling dates - like inputting regional dates and guiding you to the reliable VBA date functions

Spatial Programming in VBA

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 19:31:08 +1000

Many moons ago, I graduated with a Post Graduate degree in Land Surveying. In those days, HP made the most fantastic calculators with reverse polish logic and brilliantly responsive buttons, computers cost $500,000 and were less powerful than an Ipod and I wrote my first program using cards that I marked up with a pencil (there was no keyboard). When I returned to university to undertake a Masters degree, a program appeared on the scene that would draw three dimensional pictures if you managed to arrange the information that the program liked to read. That was my thesis, organizing and displaying three dimensional data on $50,000 plotters and even taking pictures of screens to make into a movie. I learned that programming drawings and managing spatial data was very tricky. Which brings me to an early series of articles by David Saville on programming spatial data. If you do nothing else with this article, have a look at the code relating to the user data

Access Answers: More Favorites

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 21:45:34 +1000

This month, Doug Steele continues to show how you can gather data from unexpected places. In this article, he gets URLs from the Internet and a file of exported Opera bookmarks.

Subform Performance and ADO

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:31:04 +1000

Peter Vogel discusses setting the RecordSource property of a subform dynamically to improve an application's performance. He also answers some thorny questions about using ADO to update a view (you can't)

Optional parameters in SQL Server stored procedures

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:21:11 +1000

Russell Sinclair talks about optional parameters in SQL Server stored procedures, and how you can use them to do advanced searching of data.

Web Services for the Access Developer

Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:19:57 +1000

Web Services. What is it? Do you care? Does it matter within Access? Peter Vogel answers these questions and more.

Access on a File Server - Whats the performance story

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 21:19:17 +1000

I've always been under the impression that when you place an Access MDB on a server and then run a query against a table, all the processing is still done at the client PC. In other words, if I query a 100-record table to get one record, all 100 records go across the LAN, and then the SQL is processed by Jet on my machine. This was always explained to me as a drawback of Access being a file-based database product. I'm wondering if this is still true. If not, was this correct in the past? Can you give me a definitive answer?

# Convert Access to SQL Server #

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:06:07 +1000

Upsize to SQL Server 2005 or 2008, easily repeated conversions, highly accurate SQL query translation and web form conversion. MUST now supports Access 2010.

Demystifying JOINs

Mon, 8 Aug 2011 21:04:39 +1000

Russell Sinclair explains the mysteries of the JOIN statement in SQL and how to use it with both Jet and SQL Server. Russell first explains what the different types of JOINs are.

List Boxes, Slow Forms, Access Bugs, and More

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 08:56:00 +1000

In this jumbo-sized edition of Access Answers you’ll find out about a subtle Access list box bug "row source is too long", forms that open slower every day, some more obvious bugs, and how to avoid using edit masks (and why you’d want to).

Top values and Other Ken Getz Hints from the Good Ol' Days

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:26:12 +1000

In 1996, Ken took on three topics: modifying the Top Values property of a query, selecting items from a hierarchical list on a form, and why two equivalent strings really aren't.

Garry's Notes "I thought it was interesting to see that Top Values was being supported back in 1996 and its still offered as a major feature in the 2010 Pivot table Ribbon."

Creating Histograms using Access rather then Excel

Mon, 25 Jul 2011 20:12:49 +1000

Excel hits a wall when the number of rows gets high. Here's how Art Walls used Access and the Access Query Designer to extend and enhance one of Excel's data analysis tools.

Record Locking by Peter Vogel

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 20:15:41 +1000

Peter Vogel examined the issues around locking records and concluded that, most of the time, you dont want to lock your records. In this article, he reviews that discussion and then shows the code that you can use to avoid record locking.

User Preferences, Toggles, and Rocket Science

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 18:02:45 +1000

Maybe it isn't rocket science, but maintaining user preferences will make your applications more appealing. Follow along as Danny Lesandrini demonstrates how you can maintain a variety of user-defined options.

Hide Your Input, and it’s Pretty Common

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:42:04 +1000

Doug Steele looks at how you can program your own InputBox, as well as how to programmatically call a couple of the standard Windows dialogs (the Color and Font dialogs).

Error Trapping with a Code Builder

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:26:52 +1000

If you code for a living, you know that error trapping is a drag. But it's also an essential part of any serious Access development.

Peter Vogel's take on writing easy to read code and error handling

Tue, 21 Jun 2011 09:22:42 +1000

Peter Vogel takes a quick look at two topics that will help you create code that can be maintained: error handling and program documentation.

Dates, Data Access, and Presentation

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 22:07:53 +1000

Peter Vogel looks at a problem in managing dates and displaying information using conditional formatting. He starts with a solution to the problem, but uses that as a springboard to discuss what processing should be done in the different parts of your application.

Navigation Through Recursion: Part 2

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 09:37:57 +1000

In this article, Christopher Weber demonstrates recursive query and reporting techniques he uses to generate a tree navigation map of the database. Along the way, he builds a reusable module that uses Access graphics to draw hierarchies in reports.

Navigation Through Recursion: Part 1

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 07:55:23 +1000

Christopher Weber takes us through a navigation map generating algorithm he uses to populate a table that describes how the forms and reports in an Access database relate to each other. This is a precursor to discussions on recursion theory.

Reporting from Two Tables with Common Data

Tue, 14 Jun 2011 07:23:12 +1000

Peter Vogel looks at reporting from two tables where one table overrides entries in the other table

PDF Article: Managing Cursors, Quotes, Subforms, and Missing Data

Wed, 25 May 2011 21:04:20 +1000

Christopher Weber looks at four problems: handling missing data in reports, customizing the cursor, variable sized subforms, and managing quotes.

# VB123 is a Reseller of FMS Total Access Tools #

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 18:32:21 +1000

Purchase FMS Software from us and you will find yourself with the latest version of our software for almost nothing. If you head to our FMS page, you will find the option to read about and purchase FMS Visual Code Tools, Total Access Analyzer, Total Access Emailer and Total Access Detective. Also if you purchase FMS Software, you can qualify for free copies of our popular Access Workbench or Toolbox Resource kit.

Peter Vogel discusses option boxes

Tue, 24 May 2011 10:11:51 +1000

Find out how to use VBA to manipulate option boxes

Did someone say holiday ?

Tue, 24 May 2011 09:39:48 +1000

Doug Steele shows how to automate the creation of a table of holiday dates for use in your databases.

Consolidation Queries

Tue, 24 May 2011 09:17:46 +1000

Here's a comprehensive look at how you can use consolidation queries in Access.

Adding A Data Macro To Automatically Fill in a Field

Fri, 1 Apr 2011 22:25:58 +1000

In the following table, I have used a Access 2010 data macro to fill in field. In this case I wanted the PassFail field to equal "Pass" only if all three questions were answered yes as in picture 1. Go to blog for more

# The Access Workbench #

Tue, 19 May 2009 04:22:36 +1000

Find out who has your database open, start the correct version of Access, easy compacting and backups, change startup options, create version zip files, shutdown database all in a simple interface. We use this program a lot.

PDF: Flexible Normalisation and Denormalisation Helen's Way

Fri, 1 Apr 2011 22:24:28 +1000

Helen Feddema writes "A reader asked me how he could convert a table with more than 100 questionnaire fields to a more manageable format, with the fields converted to records in a table to make it easier to tabulate the data. Effectively, this is the reverse of Garry’s problem where the converted multiple records into one

Peter on quotes, specific record selection, hot key code and first Monday

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 02:47:42 +1000

Peter Vogel looks at the following situations in an article he wrote for Access 95 that looks pretty handy for Access today. These include

How to handle quotes in code and when using the Dlookup function

How to display the three or four records before the record a person wants and then set focus on the record the user asked for

Create a shortcut key to run a function without putting the code under a button

How to determine the last Friday and the first Monday of a month Read more

Invisible Forms Revisited: Park Your Global Values Here

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:08:31 +1000

Tobi has discovered that adding an invisible form to your application can make a number of difficult tasks much easier.
All newsletters are now managed by a new service http://www.vb123.com/news

Invitiations from AWeber are Legit

Tue, 1 Mar 2011 20:38:39 +1000

Hello Readers of the Access Unlimited Newsletter

This week I am switching from a "home based" newsletter system to one run by Aweber, a large ethical emailer that runs large campaigns using Blogs as its source. My blog is http://vb123.blogspot.com

So far 1500 invitations have been sent out and to those people if you deleted an email from Aweber because you thought it was spam, sign up at http://www.vb123.com/news. For everyone else, choose confirm when the email comes in with Garry Robinson written at the top.

For everyone that signs up in the next week, I will release scanned copies of the first 3 Smart Access newsletters written for Access 2 in 1993.
.
Garry

Simplifying Complex SQL

Tue, 1 Feb 2011 09:05:54 +1000

Peter Vogel looks at some strategies for solving tough problems with SQL.

Working All Day and Skipping Weekends

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 21:03:28 +1000

DateDiff computes how many days there are between two dates, but I want to only consider working days. Is there an easy way to ignore Saturdays and Sundays?

# Get the latest at Garry's blog #

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:43:06 +1000

Garrys blog will now become the home for all posts to vb123.com. Check the RHS of at the top of the blog to sign up for the RSS feed for the news.

David Irvine discusses some of the underlying concepts of database design

Sun, 7 Nov 2010 00:27:37 +1000

Dave Irvine returns with his series on Access development. In this article, David steps back to discuss some of the underlying concepts of database design. David applies a system analyst's approach to data design that you might find more useful than some of the more abstract methodologies currently in use.

Find controls where the Procedures have gone missing

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:27:45 +1000

Sometimes the events associated with controls on my form get "unlinked" from the controls. For example, I'll have a button named cmdProcess and a routine in my code Private Sub cmdProcess_OnClick(), but clicking on the button doesn't invoke the code. What can I do? Doug Steele explains in vba speak :)

Data Macros in Access 2010

Thu, 7 Oct 2010 06:15:53 +1000

Over at Database Journal, Danny Lesandrini writes a practical introduction in Access 2010 data macros. This covers "the AfterUpdate event of the table and figuring out how to debug the macro."

I've Got Plenty of Nothing

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 08:13:26 +1000

Doug Steele starts by looking at a technique for finding unused fields in tables

Handling Price Ranges in Microsoft Access

Tue, 7 Sep 2010 12:43:11 +1000

Rebecca Riordan provides two methods for handling the common case of multiple prices for a given product, depending on the quantity ordered–the customer pays $1.79 each for buying up to nine items, but only $1.69 each when buying 10-14 items, and so on.

Embedded quotes in SQL statements - DAO Code

Thu, 2 Sep 2010 23:16:23 +1000

Adrian Murphy pointed out to Doug Steele that Parameter queries are another approach to solving the problem of having embedded quotes in the values being used in SQL statements. He sent along the following code sample:

Advanced Data Shaping - Using Hierarchial Recordsets

Sun, 12 Sep 2010 20:32:53 +1000

Mike Gunderloy provides some examples of ADO's SHAPE_APPEND statement in action, including how to synchronize child and parent Recordsets. Mike also introduces the SHAPE_COMPUTE statement.

Doug Steele shows how to simulate Cue Banners in Access

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:27:25 +1000

Internet controls such as search boxes have something called "cue prompting" that can help indicate what the user should be entering. Is there some way I can still do something like this?

Creating Paired Listbox Controls, Part 2

Sun, 8 Aug 2010 20:40:28 +1000

Rebecca Riordan continues her examination of paired Listbox controls by adding two additional functions: deferring data updates until users explicitly commit their changes, and restoring the contents of the paired Listbox controls to their initial state.

PivotTables in Access

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:33:48 +1000

Russell Sinclair shows how to summarize data using PivotTables

An Access E-mail Application

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:21:40 +1000

Adding an e-mail facility to your Access application is a convenient way to communicate critical data to multiple users, while at the same time producing a trail linked to key records in your database. Keith Bombard shows you how.

From Zoom Box to Custom Dialog

Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:08:50 +1000

For some applications you just can't get enough screen real-estate, especially when you have fields that display a large amount of text. Mike Toole describes an alternative to the Zoom box that not only looks and works better but avoids the Zoom box's spurious updates. His design can be used for creating any sophisticated custom dialog.

# Access Protection and Security Book #

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:28:37 +1000

If you are still using Access 2000, 2002, 2003 or even Access 97, have you considered my book on Access security. Read the 15 5 star reviews at Amazon.

Manage your Update Tables with Query Lists

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:50:24 +1000

In this article, Keith Bombard shows off a routine that can reduce the time it takes to create a form to manage your update tables. This general-purpose routine can be used with any small table for editing, updating, adding, and deleting records.