Access JumpStart 2.0 | Blog
A Rapid Development Framework for Microsoft Access
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Creating libraries for Access
We all re-use code in one form or another. Perhaps it begins by copying and pasting routines into a text file. Perhaps you've used people's online repositories of code that they place online, or you share your code in forum posts and search there for code help. Maybe...
My tools for planning and doing work
I've been musing on my work and planning out my 2025 1st quarter projects. I am a big proponent of planning and tracking changes. Here are some of the tools I use: For capturing ideas: Pocket Sized Field notebook and pen - At the simplest level for times where I do...
Using Command Line switches with a launcher
One strategy I have used to run automated processes with Access is to use Command Line switches. So to start up Access you use the Access program "MsAccess.exe", usually with the full path to it, then use the database you are opening as an argument, and finally you...
Launching an Access Application with update checks
I seem to have had a number of problems lately with a particular user who is running into issues trying to open an Access application multiple times. When doing so, the second instance will shutdown, but before doing so will display a box saying that Access already...
Access Fields bound to a function – updating once or per record
Another gotcha in Access is when you use a function of any kind as a query field or as a bound field on a form or report. This can also be done in Conditional Formatting fields in forms and reports. Let's say you bind a continuous form field to the builtin function...
How to programmatically tell the difference between changing a combo box by typing or by choosing from the dropdown
I had written some code for a client using the onChange and onKeyPress events of a ComboBox to be able to determine when the user had simply typed some text in, or whether they had selected an item from the dropdown list using the dropdown event. This was because the...
Forms that can’t write to records – Access and it’s usually helpful Lookup_ prefix
Today I had a weird problem that took me about 2 hours to track down. I had a normal form in Continuous view that was not triggering an error of any kind, but would not write to the record. It could see all the records, you could navigate to them, and I had a delete...
Do you use “Set”? Make sure you destroy it when you’re done!
Ok, so in some cases, VBA is nice to you and destroys variable references you use when you utilize the SET keyword. Let's say you do something like this: Dim dbObj As DAO.Database Set dbObj = CurrentDb This is in the context of some kind of function or sub, or maybe...
Do you have a deployment process?
It's important to have a process to deploy an application to a client or customer. If you don't have a process in place, Whatever method you use is not reproducible every time. I prefer to automate my deployment process as much as possible. I'd prefer to just copy a...
Using the Immediate Pane in VBA debugging
Today, I was debugging a problem where a group number was being changed on a row on a continuous form. The group number was being looked up by a query and I found the spot where I thought that was happening. By setting a breakpoint there, I was then able to examine...
Automating the Software Development Lifecycle
I was watching this YouTube video by the Access Pacific User Group by Kent Gorrell. https://youtu.be/IGv5b5XRNiQ?si=BU8zbnQGF9oyohMv I was impressed with what he did basically building a version tracking system and amongst a slew of other things, built a system to...
Working on many tasks for a customer’s database
How do you choose what to work on next for a customer? If you have a long backlog it can get somewhat dicey. Try to keep balanced between working on longer term tasks and knocking out small requests as you go. This can be tricky depending on how you code and what you...
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