Use controls, not fields

Sometimes we need to use fields from a RecordSource that aren’t shown on the form. It is legal to reference them directly even if they don’t have a control. For example, we can have a form bound to a RecordSource like so: SELECT c.CompanyID, c.CompanyName FROM Companies; And only display CompanyName in a textbox but…

Using Microsoft Access Data in a Mail Merge

Suppose you have an Access Database containing the names and addresses of your customers. Every now and again you may want or need to send a standard letter to each customer who has opted in to such mailings. However, you are aware that these letters are going to look so much better, and work so…

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…

Designing a lookup table with logic

It is very common for us to embed some kind of logic based on a lookup table or in some cases, a column of a table. Because we have application logic connected to it, the code are fragile and subject to changes as the requirements develops. We want to avoid this situation where we might…

Microsoft Access File Extensions

Microsoft Access saves information under the following file formats: File Format Extension Access Project (2007, 2010) .adp Access Blank Project Template (2007, 2010) .adn Access Database (2007, 2010, 2013, 2016) .accdb Access Record-Locking Information (2007, 2010, 2013, 2016) laccdb Access Web App Reference .accdw Access Signed Packages .accdc Access Database, used for Add-ins .accda Access…

Self-documenting code

Strong preference should be given to writing code that is self-documenting. A common approach is to write a lot of comments, but the problem with comments are twofold: It actually can harm the readability because it adds to the overall length of code to read and understand. It must be correct or it can end…

“Too Few Parameters” error fix

Symptoms Whenever you run a SQL statement you get a “Too Few Parameters, expected X.” Cause Most common cause is misspelling or missing fields in the SQL statement. Resolution Check the SQL statement. If necessary, copy and paste to an Access query and test in the query to get it to highlight which part of…

Use properties instead of constant or magic numbers

A common programming mistake is to hard-code literals that corresponds to some property. That is particularly true with certain controls like tab controls & pages. The tab control exposes a Value property that indicates the current tab and the pages contains a PageIndex property that indicates its position in the tabs of the control. Thus,…

Access InStr() function to SQL Server equivalent

What is the SQL Server equivalent to Access InStr() function? TargetField: String expression being searched SearchValue: String expression being sought StartPosition: Starting position for each search (optional) Access SQL InStr(TargetField, SearchValue) InStr(StartPosition, TargetField, SearchValue) SQL Server CHARINDEX(SearchValue, TargetField) CHARINDEX(SearchValue, TargetField, StartPosition)