Jul 29

Microsoft Access Developer Help Center Debut

We are very pleased to announce the creation of our new (and free) Microsoft Access Developer Help Center. It contains our many popular papers with tips and techniques for becoming a better Microsoft Access developer, programmer, and administrator. It covers the whole life cycle from strategic planning of how MS Access fits, database and table design, form and report tips, programming do's and don'ts, deployment, best practices, performance tips, etc.

This follows our recent Microsoft Access Query Help Center that's been well received, and our Microsoft Access to SQL Server Upsizing Help Center

We welcome any feedback on what we've put there and suggestions for additional content that would be helpful.

Jul 25

Video of Creating Growth Through Innovation and Cloud Computing with Luke Chung

Here’s a video recorded by Voices of Innovation (VFI) at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference regarding cloud computing with FMS President Luke Chung.

Watch the video to see how the Cloud and IT innovation have driven growth and improved the businesses of Microsoft Partners.

Visit this link for additional FMS videos from conferences and other events.

Jul 25

Replace the Paperclip Icon of Attachment Fields with a Column Name in Microsoft Access Tables in ACCDB Databases

Attachment Field Paperclip IconIn Access 2010 and 2007 databases (ACCDBs), the Attachment field type lets you attach files (documents, files, etc.) to records in your database. When you open the table in Datasheet view, the attachment fields display a paperclip as the column header.

Read our paper to learn how you you can Replace the Paperclip Icon of Attachment Fields with a Column Name in Microsoft Access Tables in ACCDB Databases.

Jul 20

Microsoft Access 2010 Service Pack 1 VBA Project Compatibility Issues

Microsoft released service pack 1 (SP1) of Office 2010 late June 2011. Information on the update and download instructions are in their Knowledgebase article 2460049. The KB article was last updated yesterday.

Unfortunately, we and some of our customers have encountered problems after installing the update. While we haven’t had exhaustive testing with SP1 and tentatively believe everything is okay with the 32 bit version, there are definitely compatibility problems with the 64 bit version of Access 2010. In particular, ACCDE files created in the original release of Access 2010 64 bit no longer run under SP1. This error message appears:

The database cannot be opened because the VBA project contained in it cannot be read. The database can be opened only if the VBA project is first deleted. Deleting the VBA project removes all code from modules, forms and reports. You should back up your database before attempting to open the database and delete the VBA project.

Obviously, with an ACCDE file, unlike an ACCDB file, you can’t modify the VBA project. It requires rebuilding the ACCDE from SP1.

So far, we have not experienced problems with our 32-bit ACCDE files between the original and SP1 Access 2010 versions. Some of these issues have been noted in these articles:

This is a Microsoft KB article discussing the problem which impacts ACCDE, MDE, and ADE files created with Access 2010, 64-bit. For us, when we create MDE and ADE files for use across multiple versions of Access, we’ve used Access 2003 so that still works fine. The only time we use Access 2010 64-bit version is when we’re creating an ACCDE specifically for Access 2010 64-bit users.

This issue impacts two of our products’ Access 2010 64 bit versions:

We have created new builds of these products and are undergoing internal testing and QA to verify they work with SP1. When ready, we’ll release free updates of these products to existing customers. If you need it earlier, please contact our support team. Note that this does not impact the Access 2010 32 bit version.

Regardless of whether you are using our products or not, please be aware of the compatibility issues if you’re using the 64-bit version of Access and deploying ACCDE files. You will need to make sure your Access version is in sync with your users’ version. Unfortunately, this bug occurs before any of your code can run to provide instructions to your users or offer a graceful exit.

Not sure what version you have installed? Run Access, select the File menu, and click on Help. The version informing is shown on the right side and will show (SP1).