Welcome To The Access Unlimited Newsletter - Edition 53
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Produced by Garry Robinson (known below as "Ed") from Sydney, Australia.

In this edition

Home grown Access Security
Find Carriage Returns (in a Field)
Good Reading

Feature Security Article from an Anonymous Access Developer

One of my regular contacts in the world of trying to make a quid with an Access application has written a very useful list of extensions to the material in my book on Access Security. This article is written with some degree of generality but as the advise comes from many years of development and hundreds of happy clients, you too may find the advice as useful as I did. In the article the following topics are covered.

· How you make your software behave differently if you are the developer

· Another take on a generic error handler

· How to licence users

· How to use get your clients to send their (problem) database using a password protected zip file

·  An overview on how to undertake live updates of your software

To read the article online, head to vb123.com at the following page
http://www.vb123.com/toolshed/05_access/accesssprotectionideas.htm

How Do You Find Carriage Returns--In  A Field--In A Table

One problem that I had recently was that carriage returns were turning up in fields in a table. This particular issue was proving troublesome when the data was exported to a comma delimited text. To find the troublesome records was complex but in the end I came up with this simple technique.

Make the record width on the table wide enough so that you can see two lines.
Find or make a record that actually has a carriage return
Go to the start of the second line.
Hold the shift key down and press the left arrow to return to the end of the first line.

Now use the Filter by Example button (Yellow flash) and only those lines with carriage returns will be displayed.

A user wrote in after the newsletter went out "Thanks for Access Unlimited Newsletter.  I always enjoy reading it.

If you want to find Carriage Returns in a Field, why not query on InStr([FieldName],chr(13)&chr(10))>0?

The Access Workbench Gets A Good Review At Database Journal

Read More
http://www.databasejournal.com/features/msaccess/article.php/3483326

The reviewer has the first picture of the next (snazzy) version of the Workbench here

http://amazecreations.com/datafast/daaug/taw/WorkbenchNewUI.JPG

GOOD READING

Tim Sullivan writes that the following utility is a useful mouse scrollbar add-in for the VBA environment
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2060/freewheel.html

Check out the speed of broadband providers
http://www.dslreports.com/archive

Read about issues with formatting a bar chart writing a code module .  http://www.mrexcel.com/archive/Chart/6809.html

How to color between two lines in a line chart http://www.excelforum.com/archive/index.php/t-215972.html

Danny Lesandrini writes a good introduction to Access Data Definition Language (DDL): Creating and Altering Tables On The Fly
http://www.databasejournal.com/features/msaccess/article.php/3460771

Rick Dobson has a couple of slide shows suited to the readers of this magazine. They are in point form and will provide a good overview of the topics

Access/Excel Interoperability presentation:
Click here for programmingmsaccess.com Page

IE Tutorial on Using Snapshots for Access Reports:
Click here for Programming Access page

The HAVING and GROUP BY SQL clauses are discussed at this page
Click here for article

Citrix Systems and Microsoft inked a five-year, code-sharing deal that will make sure customers of Citrix's MetaFrame Access Suite have a migration path to Longhorn.
http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3450761

Undo changes to a record on a form
http://www.microsoft-accesssolutions.co.uk/undo_changes.htm

Read about some of the implications of Unicode compression and if you are not Korean or Chinese and in need of a 4 bit character field, have another look at your text fields as there could be some performance and space improvements awaiting your diligence.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q208285

A new Outlook 2003 junk email filter
Microsoft Download page

How do we pause the program (code) for a few seconds? Following is one solution that uses windows API call for the purpose. Does any of the readers have a better solution ?
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Databases/MS_Access/Q_21263292.html

Google Mail or GMail is making Microsoft run fast. Read the following article to find out about the new subscription service that combines hotmail with Office Outlook for $60 a year. 
http://stuff.techwhack.com/archives/2005/01/21/microsoft-office-outlook-live/

http://gmail.google.com/gmail/help/about.html

Two important programming operations/processes that help us create and maintain applications are called "Debugging" and "Tracing". Debugging allows us to observe and correct programming errors. Tracing is a form of Debugging that allows us to keep track of the health of our applications. Another way of thinking of tracing is producing a log of activities. Read more
http://www.15seconds.com/issue/020910.htm

"Invalid product key" error message when you start an Office 2003 program after you install Office Professional Edition 2003.  Read more
http://www.kbalertz.com/Feedback_836178.aspx

Tips every developer needs for creating documentation that doesn't impede your software development cycle.
http://www.ftponline.com/resources/managingdev/documentation_08_12_02/

Make your wireless network more difficult for a malicious outsider to gain access.
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;309369

Perimeter Security for your network http://www.ftponline.com/wss/2004_04/magazine/features/nruest/

A page on making your Access database run faster.  Not sure about all the techniques but the comments in using transactions to buffer large updates is interesting.
http://www.blueclaw-db.com/access_consultant_rapid.htm

Essentials of Small Business Network Security Protect yourself against Internet bad guys without hiring a staff of computer experts with this free, concise 6-page PDF.
http://redmondmag.com/techlibrary/mcafee/

Another process uses Normal.Dot when you automate word. Read about this painful bug here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/818953

Print out your VBA code in color
http://www.starprint2000.com/

You can also copy your source code (of any type) to HTML using TextPad 4.6. Handy for putting it on your website with examples at  From Phillip Eaton
http://www.centipede.plus.com/pje/professional/projects/codesamples.htm

AutoUpdate+ is an application that easily allows you to add updating/upgrading capabilities to your software.
http://autoupdateplus.com/

Implementing Encrypted SQL Server Database Columns with .NET http://nl.internet.com/ct.html?rtr=on&s=1,1c2u,1,1be,3a4h,39gr,amjy

New version of the workbench released
http://www.databasejournal.com/news/article.php/3500936

http://www.vbwire.com/brief.asp?8050

Did you know that Russians landed the first spaceship on the moon
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1959-014A

Security Thought for The Day

Quote from an ezine called Security Watch

“One of the most basic security principals is that of "least privilege". This principal states that you don't give the new neighbours keys to your house -- you make them ring the doorbell and be invited in. In IT, it means you don't give every user administrative privileges.”  Access databases are no different than any other important source of information in your organisation.  Ed

WRAPPING THIS EDITION UP

For this editorial, I thought I would pass on some thoughts by my good friend and colleague Scott McManus on a topic that he calls “The Time Decay Of Data”

Many organisations assume that once data is in the 'computer' it stays in a state of perpetual correctness forever. However, very rarely is there good validation and verification when data is entered, nor is data checked or corrected. Another less discussed issue is that data that is not protected/secured decays over time from inadvertent error. The type of error can be traced to issues like staff accidentally changing data while they are doodling on the phone or drinking coffee. This is different from malicious and willful damage to data. The rate of change for error is more than likely directly proportional to the activity a data set experiences and the length of time since it was originally entered. (even if originally correct)

Added to these issues  is the fact that some organisations now must ensure on a regular basis that their data is true and correct and that a suitably qualified person signs off that this is so. For example the Mining and Exploration industry in Canada must now ensure compliance with the National Instrument 43-101. This is an area where both Garry and I are actively involved in and let me tell you from hard won experience, the job of looking after important data is never over.   Scott McManus  February 2005

So thanks for reading our popular newsletter.  Feel free to make comments, copy the email to a friend or maybe even contribute to the next edition. And if you can, have a look at our software by using the Marketing section on the left hand side of this newsletter. If you really like this newsletter, why not purchase The Toolshed and you will get all the other newsletters and plenty more in a developer’s knowledge base tool with super searching facilities.

Garry Robinson - Software Consultant and Author
GR-FX Pty Limited
Sydney, Australia.
Ph +61 2 9665 2871 Fax +61 2 9665 8448
Software Resources http://vb123.com/

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Published  2005-02

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