Custom functions work the same way as MS Access built-in functions such as DateAdd, DatePart and DSum, but are instead created ourselves as database developers. We do this by creating a public function with the VBA programming language and save it inside a global module within the database. Today I am going to explain how custom functions can be…
Hardware Recommendations For Running Access
Hardware matters. Invest in a faster PC and your Microsoft Access databases will run faster. Be alert for sellers packaging fast processors with minimal memory and a slow hard drive to keep prices low. Look at all aspects of the purchase when database speed is a priority. A faster hard drive is worth the investment…
Microsoft Access 2003 Language Reference [Access 2003 VBA Language Reference]
This reference contains conceptual overviews, programming tasks, samples, and references to guide you in developing solutions based on Microsoft Access. The reference contains the following sections: What’s New: Provides a list of new members by object and in alphabetical order. Concepts: Provides important concepts for developing custom Access solutions. Reference: Provides reference materials for the Access…
Enable and Disable a Form Control using VBA
I was working on a design for an Order Management Database, and one of the tasks I dealt with involved dynamically Enabling or Disabling one of the form’s Command Buttons’ using VBA. This gave me the idea for the present Access tip. The command button was located on a Customer Details form which had an Orders…
How to Migrate Data from Access to SQL Server using SSMA (SQL Server Migration Assistant)
SSMA is used to migrate Access databases to SQL Server. This tool converts the Access database to an SQL Server or an SQL Azure database. It is not bundled with SQL Server – you will need to download and install this tool separately. Check your system requirements and view the installation procedure for SSMA. Preparing…
“Truthy” and “Falsy” Values
VBA is quite very loose in what it deems “truthy” and “falsy”. For example, this procedure can produce surprising result:
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If Me.MyBitField.Value = True Then 'It is true Else 'It is false End If |
At the first glance, it seems expected that if the bit field is set to 1, it would succeed. But in fact, it wouldn’t because True is equivalent to -1, not 1. Unless we…
Hiding the Navigation Pane with VBA
Once you have created an Access Database Application to be used by other people, it may well be important for you to prevent users from gaining access to any of its design features. By this I mean, you may not want users to modify your tables, forms and queries etc in design view (inadvertently or…
Access DateValue() function to SQL Server equivalent
What is the SQL Server equivalent to Access DateValue() function? Access SQL DateValue([Event Timestamp]) SQL Server Equivalent cast([Event Timestamp] as date) convert(date, [Event Timestamp])
How to Display a Form Automatically when your Application Opens
This is a quick tip on how to automatically display a form when the user opens your Access Application. In addition to improving User Friendliness, your database design will also appear much more professional. The step by step instructions below will display the Switchboard form in figure 1 immediately upon the application opening. This will…
Prefer compile time errors over run time errors
In VBA, there are several features that allow us to do things that may not be checked at the compile time. In particular, it is possible to write several late-bound expressions which means that it can potentially contain run-time errors. One common misconception about late-binding is that it’s a matter of adding a reference and…







