Tony's Microsoft Access Blog

Interesting KB article on DAO and Jet DLLs

There's been an interesting discussion on Jet and DAO dlls in the newsgroups.  James A. Fortune, long time newsgroup resident, located some interesting KB articles in the thread titled Jet Database Engine Questions   He did located other articles but I thought the following one was the most interesting.

How To: Redistributing DAO with Your Visual C++ 5.0 Application  (Note: This includes descriptions of some of the DAO and Jet core files.  These are also for Jet 3.5 and DAO 3.5 but still gives you some insight.) 

Minor updates to the Auto FE Updater

Version 1.74 of the Auto FE Updater is now available for download

• Added FileNameToStart as an entry in the INI file so the MDB/MDE file name no longer needs to be on the MainApp line.   This will simplify setting up the INI file.
• Using the LowMacroSecurity means of starting Access will now start Access in maximized mode
• UNC paths now supported in MainApp INI file entry. 
• Assorted minor bug fixes.

Importing multiple objects between MDBs efficiently

Somehow, and I have no idea how, I figured out that you can drag and drop objects from one Access MDB to another.  Open the donor database and maximize the database container window.  But resize the database so it only takes up three quarters of the Windows desktop.   I always put this in the upper left hand corner. 

Open the target Access MDB, maximize the database container window, and make it smaller than the Windows desktop.  I always put this in the lower right hand corner.   I always put the databases in the same place so I don't get confused.

Click on the donor database and ensure you can still see a small bit of the target database container window.  Now drag and drop to your hearts content.

Of course, if I'm doing multiple objects I will switch to the details window in the donor database and sort the objects by date in ascending sequence.    This doesn't work for modules however as MS changes all the modules data and times to be the same.   If I want to see if the object is already in the target database I go to the target database, click in the window and hit the first letter of the object name to roughly go to that object in the list.

Jet Red vs Jet Blue

Jet Blue came up as a topic in a newsgroup question today.  I felt this was worth mentioning as a useless bit of trivia.  <smile>

Very occasionally you will encounter the terms Jet Red and Jet Blue.  Jet Red is the version used in Microsoft Access.   Jet Blue is used in other Microsoft products such as Microsoft Exchange.  For example Extensible Storage Engine and go down to the last paragraph.  Also see the Wikipedia entries  Microsoft Jet Database Engine and  Extensible Storage Engine.  Doing a Google search on "jet blue" "Jet red" microsoft brings up some interesting results.

The Two Types of Programmers

The Two Types of Programmers   I hope a good mix of both are reading my blog.

Integrating OneNote and Access

I was asked the following:

I'm building an access data base and wondering if Microsoft access can integrate with Microsoft Onenote.

Yes, it can.   I went to the OneNote product page at Microsoft and followed the Developer Center link under the Technical Resources section on the lower left hand side of that page.   There may be some useful resources there.

Right under that section is Additional Resources and a link titled Discussion Groups.  I'd ask your question in there. 

If you do ask your question in the discussion groups I'd suggest some more detail on your objective though so we can do a better job of helping you out.

I love SNAGIT by TechSmith

SNAGIT is an very easy to use screen capture tool.  My previous blog posting would've been impossible using a screen print function as the images only appear if you ran the cursor over the little error control widget.

SNAGIT has a video capture option which I then went through looking for exactly the shot I wanted.  And there it was so I saved the screen shot and created my blog entry.

But what makes SNAGIT so nice is that it only took me ten or twenty seconds to choose an appropriate option for what I wanted to do.   Then about five seconds going through the video capture to find the frame I wanted and then save it.  The whole process was very fast and very intuitive.

Almost everything else I've done has also been very intuitive.   I like software that works like that.  

So SNAGIT means I can do a much better job of explaining things to you the reader.

Disclaimer:  As a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional I was given a free license.  The understanding is that I will comment about the product.  Presumably anything negative to the corporation and anything positive to the world.  

Did you know about the "New Label Not Associated With A Control" message?

 One reason I much prefer using Access 2003 compared to older versions of Access is the little warning widgets (for lack of a better term) that come up while you are working on forms or reports.  These help me, a highly experienced Access developer, work more efficiently.  And I'm sure they help many a newbie as well too.

However there is a little trick that some people aren't aware of when it comes to the "New Label Not Associated With A Control" message.  Simply save the form or report, exit the form or report and reopen the form or report. That particular message won't reappear for those particular controls.   If you add some new controls and cut and paste the labels to the header then you will get the messages for the new control labels. 

All the other messages will still appear when you reopen the form. 

Also you can change the colour of the Error Indicator (that little triangle indicator in the corner.  It's hard to see in the above screen shot).  I prefer Red as that stands out more.

Updated the Microsoft Access 2000 Developer Edition FAQ page

I've updated the Microsoft Access 2000 Developer Edition FAQ to include a link to fellow MVP Sascha Trowitzsch  interesting page How to patch an Access 2000 Runtime package to Service Pack 3. 

Also the lead paragraph states the following:  "The Access 2000 runtime requires a reboot after install.  At least it did in my limited testing. Thus I do not recommend the Access 2000 runtime for that reason alone."

Software quality at 10,000 feet

There are a number of rather interesting problems mentioned in the blog entry.

"An interesting issue with system integration causes all seat power(electronic controls on the seat as well as reading lights) to be off-line until the [entertainment] system reboots (about 10 minutes)."  

Software quality at 10,000 feet (BTW he's actually probably at more than 30,000 feet.)

Using data from the previous year

A newsgroup question prompted me to pontificate for a bit.  I then decided to create a page on the topic. Using data from the previous year

Some conversions take a bit longer than others

"Today, Con Edison will end 125 years of direct current electricity service that began when Thomas Edison opened his Pearl Street power station on Sept. 4, 1882."

...

"The direct current conversion in Lower Manhattan started in 1928, and an engineer then predicted that it would take 45 years, according to Mr. Cunningham. “An optimistic prediction since we still have it now,” he said."

Off Goes the Power Current Started by Thomas Edison

Don't Forget To Lock Your Computer

Don't Forget To Lock Your Computer

An excellent geekette webcomic series

xkcd 1337 - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language

Series isn't the right word. But I don't know what is.  It's five sets of cartoons.  Set isn't quite right either.  Definitely well worth reading though.

Duh! - I've never noticed that - Fuel Gauges

The Worlds Best Kept Auto Secret   Fuel gauges.

Added:  Snopes.com - Fuel Icon Foolery  And it was so logical too. <sigh>

Shifting fields left on a continuous form

 I have a field on a continuous form that is only occasionally visible.  Yet, when visible, I'd like it to be right next to another field.   And I don't want to leave an ugly gap in the middle.   See Shifting fields left on a continuous form in Microsoft Access

Added: I"ve added David W Fenton's comments and links to a discussion and sample code to the above web page.

Saying goodbye to [Mac Office] Visual Basic

A very interesting year old blog posting with some details of how Office VBA works.  And a lot more about how Mac Office VB works.  Or used to work.  Caution: some details are somewhat geeky.  Saying goodbye to [Mac Office] Visual Basic

Google's motto: "Don't be evil" - Hogwash

I'm very upset with Google's policy of indexing and allowing Google advertising on forum web sites which are "slurping" content from Usenet and Microsoft newsgroup servers.

When I go looking for a technical answer on Google's main search page I used to get just web pages. If the question is a common one then they are likely to be found on web pages such as the several hundred pages of advanced Microsoft Access content on my web site.    Web pages can be much better than forums for common questions and answers because they are organized, are reasonably well written and usually updated on a regular basis.

Usenet and Microsoft newsgroups and web forums are excellent for finding answers to more obscure or rarer questions.   Or when you'd like to have a discussion or when you don't know the correct terminology. Frequently though web forums are full of other extra junk and fluff that are quite useless for answering your more general questions.

If I wanted to get a newsgroup answer I would use the Google Groups search engine. Furthermore I would use the Advanced Groups Search option and restrict my query to just the Access, Excel, Word, XP or other set of newsgroups of interest.

But what really upsets me is that those twenty or more forum web sites which "slurp" their content from Usenet or Microsoft newsgroups.  Such as the comp.* and the microsoft.public.* newsgroups.  I have, last time I looked over 32,000 postings almost entirely answering questions in MS Access. in the comp.database.msaccess or the microsoft.public.access.* newsgroups. 

These "slurping" forum web sites, who are copying my newsgroup answers, are making money off my postings.

Proof?  Search on a phrase of my newsgroup signature line at Google. For example "Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems"  At the time of this posting the first six URLs are from sites selling Google ads:  buzz.omgili.com (ok this site links to another site selling Google ads; www.wiredbox.net; www.eggheadcafe.com; www.mydatabasesupport.com; www.ureader.com; objectmix.com.  The next four are fine. 

The second search page has only two that are "slurpers" www.ureader.com and www.kaizenlog.com.  The third page has www.developerfood.com, www.accessmonster.com, www.nnseek.com and mssql.meetholland.com.

Now lets try searching on my email address I use for posting ttoews@telusplanet.net  First page shows www.thescripts.com, www.dbforums.com, objectmix.com, www.mydatabasesupport.com, www.developersdex.com and www.pcreview.co.uk.  I won't bore you reciting the rest of the URLs.

Note that I don't mind forums such as Utter Access who are not "slurping" answers from the newsgroups.  You must visit the web site to post the question or view the answers.

In my opinion Google enabling those forum "slurpers" to make money off my answers is wrong.   Furthermore they are violating my copyright.  I don't mind Google making some money off my postings given the expense of running the search engines and such.  But these other "slurpers", nah they're evil.

Disclaimer.  I make a small amount of money with Google ads on my granite.ab.ca web site.  So these forum web sites are somewhat decreasing my revenue.

Tony Toews, Microsoft Access Most Valuable Professional since 1999

Linux Is No Vista Killer

The Linux folks aren't going to like this article.  Linux Is No Vista Killer

2007 Microsoft Office Security Guide

The 2007 Microsoft Office Security Guide provides prescriptive Group Policy setting and security configuration recommendations to help strengthen the security of computers running the 2007 Microsoft Office release on computers that run Windows Vista or Windows XP in domain–based environments.

In other words this document is of most interest to the IT administrators.