Workbench Help File - Starting The Program

Other Ways To Get The Most Out Of The Workbench Orders

Associating The Workbench With File Types

Whilst the workbench install setup will setup file associations for you, you may not proceed with them during startup or you may have special database filetypes that you need to associate the workbench with. If so, read on...

The best way to incorporate the workbench into your database activities is to associate the program with your file types. This allows you to right click on a file in Windows explorer and choose the workbench rather than Microsoft Access itself. Figure 1 shows you how to start setting up this association. This method applies to Win XP, Win 2000, and Win 98. So open Windows Explorer and choose Tools ... Folder Options.

Figure 1 - establish file associations with the Workbench

Now choose the file types tab. Now you need to find the MDB file type (and MDE) and choose the advanced button as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 - Choose the MDB file type and click the Advanced button

Now you need to click on the New button to generate a new file action (as shown in Figure 3). In the new action input form, type Workbench into the new action field. Now click the browse button to find the Workbench executable. This should be in c:\program files\vb123\workbench.exe. Click OK, OK and Close to complete the setup.

Figure 3 - adding a new file action for the mdb file type.

Now you can right click on any MDB file and choose Workbench as the program to use the file as shown in Figure 4. If you really like the workbench, you can do what we do and make the workbench the default program for MDB files. This means that you can now easily switch between Access 97 and 2000/XP databases through the workbench.

Figure 4 - Now you can easily open the Workbench and show information about any MDB file.

Create a shortcut to start the program

If you declined these options whilst installing the workbench, you can make the Workbench easier to locate by finding the file "c:\program files\vb123\workbench.exe" and draging it onto your windows Start button or sending it to the desktop.

Adding The Workbench To Your Database

It is possible to open the workbench from your database(s) using a one line Access Macro as follows

Open the database window (Hit F11)
Open a new Macro
Enter RunApp as the action
Enter the following into the Command Line at the bottom of the form

c:\program files\vb123\workbench.exe C:\MSOfficeXP\Office10\Samples\Northwind.mdb

where you can substitute your database for the Northwind database.
Save the macro
Reuse the macro whenever you want to see who is in your database.

The Access Workbench Help File - How To Start The Program