Microsoft Access
Get your SQL data types right
Think about your database as the foundation of your application, and don’t be afraid to correct bad design when you revisit your database. Build your Tables as if your clients have direct access to them and apply referential integrity where possible. If the column is required, then don’t allow nulls. Use the correct SQL Server […]
Using VBA Internal Subroutines
Here’s an Access VBA feature that I’ve never seen another developer use; the VBA Internal Subroutine GoSub and Return Statements. Have you ever delved into VBA code and wondered why a Function or Procedure calls another Function or Procedure numerous times; and perhaps the called Function or Procedure is not called anywhere else? There is […]
How to insert old records into an Auto Numbered table
This is an old problem that rears it’s ugly head from time-to-time. You have a transaction table which uses an automatically generated number (Auto Number) as the record ID. You have lost some records in your database due to a corruption, and you have an old backup of the database which contains the lost records. […]
Top 10 database design tips
When I am asked to review an application written in Access the first thing I look at is the database tables. The design of the tables and their relationships will tell me a lot about the standard of the database. I consider the database table structure as the foundation of an application just as you […]
What’s not to like about Access
Microsoft Access is fun, powerful and more importantly, it has a place in the development community, and in the real world of production applications. What follows are some good reasons why I believe this is still the case. When I started developing a neonatal patient management system for a major public hospital nearly 10 years […]