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)
IS NULL: Understanding and Using the Null Value in Microsoft Access
In Microsoft Access, a null value is a value that is not assigned or unknown. When working with databases, it’s important to understand how to use and identify null values in order to ensure accurate and efficient data management. The IS NULL operator is one of the most useful tools for working with null values…
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…
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…
“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…
Access UPDATE query to SQL Server
How do I convert an Access UPDATE query to SQL Server? Access SQL UPDATE Cars INNER JOIN UpdateList ON Cars.Parts = UpdateList.Parts SET Cars.Price = [Updatelist].[price] SQL Server UPDATE Cars SET Cars.Price = [Updatelist].[price] FROM Cars INNER JOIN UpdateList ON Cars.Parts = UpdateList.Parts
“Truthy” and “Falsy” Values
VBA is quite very loose in what it deems “truthy” and “falsy”. For example, this procedure can produce surprising result: 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…
Module level variables
It is common to create a big wall of declaration in a module such as this: Private strCompanyName As String Private dteOrderDate As Date Private lngOrderID As Long Private objEmail As Object Private objOutlook As Object While the code will compile and work fine, the discoverability and naming of the module level variables does become…
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…
Why does Excel have a problem when using code in Access?
When you use code to refer to Excel (and other programs as well) you need to be careful not to use any code that does not refer back to the instantiated application object. If you do so then you will find that Access instantiates another Excel (or other program) object which is not visible to…






