LEARN MS-ACCESS TIPS AND TRICKSLEARN MS-ACCESS TIPS AND TRICKSLearn Mail Merge in MS-Access. Learn how to enhance your Microsoft Access Forms with 3D Headings and Animated Controls. Step by step tutorial to prepare Graph Charts in Access. Use of Office Assistant in Access. Easy to implement Examples and Codes. Articles
Selection of Office Assistant
2008-02-07 16:14:00 Since, we have tried many options with Office Assistant earlier we will do some fun stuff this time. Those who entered straight into this page may like to look into the following Topics. The links to the earlier Articles are given below:Message Box with Office AssistantMessage Box with Menu Options using Office AssistantMessage Box with Check Box type Menu with the use of Office AssistantCommand Button Animation (Visit this page to Link the Microsoft Office Library File to your Project).We all know that we can select the Office Assistant of our choice from Help Menu of MS-Access or other MS-Office Applications as well. Instead, we will design a Form in MS-Access to organize all the Office Assistant Characters available on our PC on the Form, display them and select the one that we like, set it as the default Office Assistant, as we please.A sample image of the Program Run is given below:We need a small Table with the Office Assistant?s File names for a List Box as shown at the le... More About: Selection
Selection of Office Assistant
2008-02-07 16:14:00 Since, we have tried many options with Office Assistant earlier we will do some fun stuff this time. Those who entered straight into this page may like to look into the following Topics. The links to the earlier Articles are given below:Message Box with Office AssistantMessage Box with Menu Options using Office AssistantMessage Box with Check Box type Menu with the use of Office AssistantCommand Button Animation (Visit this page to Link the Microsoft Office Library File to your Project).We all know that we can select the Office Assistant of our choice from Help Menu of MS-Access or other MS-Office Applications as well. Instead, we will design a Form in MS-Access to organize all the Office Assistant Characters available on our PC on the Form, display them and select the one that we like, set it as the default Office Assistant, as we please.A sample image of the Program Run is given below:We need a small Table with the Office Assistant?s File names for a List Box as shown at the le... More About: Selection
Office Assistant with Check Box Menu
2008-02-01 08:13:00 We have seen the usage of Office Assistant for Message Boxes and Message Box with Options Menu in the earlier Article.Like I said before, when we design Applications there must be something different in it better than what we did earlier, better and attractive to the User as well as to the outside world. Data processing has its own importance and I am not overlooking it here. Every Application that we develop is different and a challenge in its own merit and we have to devise new methods or techniques to deal with the issues in them. But, repeating the same type of Application design and using the same kind of controls like the Command Buttons or Message Boxes over and over again is a boring experience, to the developer and to the User as well. I think that is one of the reasons why Windows or Microsoft Office Applications comes out with more features and better looking Programs all the time.We will try the Check Box type Menu Options in Message Box with Office Assistant. We wil...
Office Assistant with Check Box Menu
2008-02-01 08:13:00 We have seen the usage of Office Assistant for Message Boxes and Message Box with Options Menu in the earlier Article.Like I said before, when we design Applications there must be something different in it better than what we did earlier, better and attractive to the User as well as to the outside world. Data processing has its own importance and I am not overlooking it here. Every Application that we develop is different and a challenge in its own merit and we have to devise new methods or techniques to deal with the issues in them. But, repeating the same type of Application design and using the same kind of controls like the Command Buttons or Message Boxes over and over again is a boring experience, to the developer and to the User as well. I think that is one of the reasons why Windows or Microsoft Office Applications comes out with more features and better looking Programs all the time.We will try the Check Box type Menu Options in Message Box with Office Assistant. We wil...
Office Assistant with Check Box Menu
2008-02-01 08:13:00 We have seen the usage of Office Assistant for Message Boxes and Message Box with Options Menu in the earlier Article.Like I said before, when we design Applications there must be something different in it better than what we did earlier, better and attractive to the User as well as to the outside world. Data processing has its own importance and I am not overlooking it here. Every Application that we develop is different and a challenge in its own merit and we have to devise new methods or techniques to deal with the issues in them. But, repeating the same type of Application design and using the same kind of controls like the Command Buttons or Message Boxes over and over again is a boring experience, to the developer and to the User as well. I think that is one of the reasons why Windows or Microsoft Office Applications comes out with more features and better looking Programs all the time.We will try the Check Box type Menu Options in Message Box with Office Assistant. We wil...
MsgBox with Options Menu
2008-01-24 15:36:00 This is an extension of my earlier Article on MsgBox with Office Assistant. Here, we will try to make use of Office Assistant to display a set of Menu Options and ask the User to select one of them. When the User clicks on one of the Options we will test for the selected value and execute the action programmed for it.A demo image of the Baloon Type Menu Options displayed in Office Assistant is given below:Design a simple Form with a Text Box and a Command Button as shown above to run the Demo Program. Click on the Text Box and Display the Property Sheet (View - > Properties) and change the Name property Value to OptTxt. This is used only for displaying the selected Option Text for Demo purposes.Click on the Command Button and display its property sheet. Change the Name Property Value to cmdOpt and the Caption property Value to Get Option.While the sample form is still in Design View, display the Form?s VBA Module (View -> Code). Copy and paste the following Code into the Form?s ...
MsgBox with Options Menu
2008-01-24 15:36:00 This is an extension of my earlier Article on MsgBox with Office Assistant. Here, we will try to make use of Office Assistant to display a set of Menu Options and ask the User to select one of them. When the User clicks on one of the Options we will test for the selected value and execute the action programmed for it.A demo image of the Baloon Type Menu Options displayed in Office Assistant is given below:Design a simple Form with a Text Box and a Command Button as shown above to run the Demo Program. Click on the Text Box and Display the Property Sheet (View - > Properties) and change the Name property Value to OptTxt. This is used only for displaying the selected Option Text for Demo purposes.Click on the Command Button and display its property sheet. Change the Name Property Value to cmdOpt and the Caption property Value to Get Option.While the sample form is still in Design View, display the Form?s VBA Module (View -> Code). Copy and paste the following Code into the Form?s ...
MsgBox with Options Menu
2008-01-24 15:36:00 This is an extension of my earlier Article on MsgBox with Office Assistant. Here, we will try to make use of Office Assistant to display a set of Menu Options and ask the User to select one of them. When the User clicks on one of the Options we will test for the selected value and execute the action programmed for it.A demo image of the Baloon Type Menu Options displayed in Office Assistant is given below:Design a simple Form with a Text Box and a Command Button as shown above to run the Demo Program. Click on the Text Box and Display the Property Sheet (View - > Properties) and change the Name property Value to OptTxt. This is used only for displaying the selected Option Text for Demo purposes.Click on the Command Button and display its property sheet. Change the Name Property Value to cmdOpt and the Caption property Value to Get Option.While the sample form is still in Design View, display the Form?s VBA Module (View -> Code). Copy and paste the following Code into the Form?s ...
Who changed the Data
2008-01-18 11:41:00 Who changed the data? This question comes up when something found not in order with the information kept in the database and ended up with serious issues reaching out to too many. I didn?t give out much to make it clearer to you and wondering what this is all about. Let us look into a scenario to bring the story into brighter light.There is a database on Credit Customers of the Company, which includes high profile Credit Parties from Ministries or Ministers themselves. All Credit Parties are grouped into different Categories based on their status or other credibility criteria and assigned with different Category Codes. Periodically a Statement on their Payment Over Dues will print and forward to the parties as a regular follow up measure, to remind them to make payments or to check and reconfirm the statement is in order.Since, high profile parties are kept under different Category Codes, their Statements are printed separately for internal record purposes only, but never forward... More About: Data
Who changed the Data
2008-01-18 11:41:00 Who changed the data? This question comes up when something found not in order with the information kept in the database and ended up with serious issues reaching out to too many. I didn?t give out much to make it clearer to you and wondering what this is all about. Let us look into a scenario to bring the story into brighter light.There is a database on Credit Customers of the Company, which includes high profile Credit Parties from Ministries or Ministers themselves. All Credit Parties are grouped into different Categories based on their status or other credibility criteria and assigned with different Category Codes. Periodically a Statement on their Payment Over Dues will print and forward to the parties as a regular follow up measure, to remind them to make payments or to check and reconfirm the statement is in order.Since, high profile parties are kept under different Category Codes, their Statements are printed separately for internal record purposes only, but never forward... More About: Data
Who changed the Data
2008-01-18 11:41:00 Who changed the data? This question comes up when something found not in order with the information kept in the database and ended up with serious issues reaching out to too many. I didn?t give out much to make it clearer to you and wondering what this is all about. Let us look into a scenario to bring the story into brighter light.There is a database on Credit Customers of the Company, which includes high profile Credit Parties from Ministries or Ministers themselves. All Credit Parties are grouped into different Categories based on their status or other credibility criteria and assigned with different Category Codes. Periodically a Statement on their Payment Over Dues will print and forward to the parties as a regular follow up measure, to remind them to make payments or to check and reconfirm the statement is in order.Since, high profile parties are kept under different Category Codes, their Statements are printed separately for internal record purposes only, but never forward... More About: Data
Progress Counter
2008-01-10 20:49:00 This is the continuation of a series of examples and Demos tried earlier and uses Table and Form designed for earlier examples. If you have started on this Page please go through the earlier Topics and then continue. Click the Links Below or select them from the TRICKS Menu Tab above to open those Pages.Progress MeterProgress Bar on FormThe new method that we are going to try out is better in look and feel and very active in nature. The progress control is a small form and it is updated at record level, rather than based on the percentage of records processed, in the case of progress bar's indicator to advance forward. This method cannot be used for Macros as we did with the Progress Bar Control in the earlier Article. When the processing time takes more than few minutes and involves several files, you can easily incorporate the use of this new method with few lines of Code in your Program. A Demo Run image of the Control is given below:The display is self explanatory. At the ... More About: Counter
Progress Counter
2008-01-10 20:49:00 This is the continuation of a series of examples and Demos tried earlier and uses Table and Form designed for earlier examples. If you have started on this Page please go through the earlier Topics and then continue. Click the Links Below or select them from the TRICKS Menu Tab above to open those Pages.Progress MeterProgress Bar on FormThe new method that we are going to try out is better in look and feel and very active in nature. The progress control is a small form and it is updated at record level, rather than based on the percentage of records processed, in the case of progress bar's indicator to advance forward. This method cannot be used for Macros as we did with the Progress Bar Control in the earlier Article. When the processing time takes more than few minutes and involves several files, you can easily incorporate the use of this new method with few lines of Code in your Program. A Demo Run image of the Control is given below:The display is self explanatory. At the ... More About: Counter
Progress Counter
2008-01-10 20:49:00 This is the continuation of a series of examples and Demos tried earlier and uses Table and Form designed for earlier examples. If you have started on this Page please go through the earlier Topics and then continue. Click the Links Below or select them from the TRICKS Menu Tab above to open those Pages.Progress MeterProgress Bar on FormThe new method that we are going to try out is better in look and feel and very active in nature. The progress control is a small form and it is updated at record level, rather than based on the percentage of records processed, in the case of progress bar's indicator to advance forward. This method cannot be used for Macros as we did with the Progress Bar Control in the earlier Article. When the processing time takes more than few minutes and involves several files, you can easily incorporate the use of this new method with few lines of Code in your Program. A Demo Run image of the Control is given below:The display is self explanatory. At the ... More About: Counter
Progress Bar on Form
2008-01-04 14:34:00 Continued from previous article: Progress Meter We will try the Progress Bar Control on the sample Form that we have already designed earlier, for using with Macros.NB: This method for Macros found working only on Microsoft Access 2000. When tried in MS-Access 2003 it totally ignores updating the Progress Bar Control, even with the database Formats MS-Access 2000, 2002 and 2003. If any readers found a solution to this problem please share it with me too. However, you can use this method with our earlier Program replacing the sysCmd() lines for transaction level processing, to view the Progress Bar on your own Form rather than on the Status Bar.Open the ProgressMeter Form in Design View.Select ActiveX Control Option from Insert Menu.Select Microsoft Progress Bar Control, Version 6.0 from the displayed list.Draw a Progress Bar on the Form as shown in the image below. You have to do some resizing to make it look like the sample below. You can make it any size and shape you prefer.Sele...
Progress Bar on Form
2008-01-04 14:34:00 Continued from previous article: Progress Meter We will try the Progress Bar Control on the sample Form that we have already designed earlier, for using with Macros.NB: This method for Macros found working only on Microsoft Access 2000. When tried in MS-Access 2003 it totally ignores updating the Progress Bar Control, even with the database Formats MS-Access 2000, 2002 and 2003. If any readers found a solution to this problem please share it with me too. However, you can use this method with our earlier Program replacing the sysCmd() lines for transaction level processing, to view the Progress Bar on your own Form rather than on the Status Bar.Open the ProgressMeter Form in Design View.Select ActiveX Control Option from Insert Menu.Select Microsoft Progress Bar Control, Version 6.0 from the displayed list.Draw a Progress Bar on the Form as shown in the image below. You have to do some resizing to make it look like the sample below. You can make it any size and shape you prefer.Sele...
Progress Bar on Form
2008-01-04 14:34:00 Continued from previous article: Progress Meter We will try the Progress Bar Control on the sample Form that we have already designed earlier, for using with Macros.NB: This method for Macros found working only on Microsoft Access 2000. When tried in MS-Access 2003 it totally ignores updating the Progress Bar Control, even with the database Formats MS-Access 2000, 2002 and 2003. If any readers found a solution to this problem please share it with me too. However, you can use this method with our earlier Program replacing the sysCmd() lines for transaction level processing, to view the Progress Bar on your own Form rather than on the Status Bar.Open the ProgressMeter Form in Design View.Select ActiveX Control Option from Insert Menu.Select Microsoft Progress Bar Control, Version 6.0 from the displayed list.Draw a Progress Bar on the Form as shown in the image below. You have to do some resizing to make it look like the sample below. You can make it any size and shape you prefer.Sele...
Progress Meter
2007-12-28 07:28:00 When we process large volume of data in MS-Access for Reports it may take few minutes to several minutes to complete them, depending on the size of the transactions involved. We have to run VB Routines or several Action Queries, which takes data from other Queries or Tables, and sequence the process steps through Macros to complete them. If you have Queries of Select Type or Action Query that pulls data from Crosstab Queries and if large volume of transactions involved, it takes longer than the Normal Queries to prepare the output.In all these situations it will be difficult to the user to know how long the whole process will take to complete the task. After running the process few times the user may get a rough idea as how long it will take. Normally at the beginning of a lengthy process the Mouse Pointer can be turned on into an Hourglass shape (Docmd.Hourglass True) indicating that the machine is engaged and at end of the program we can turn it off. But, this method will not giv... More About: Progress , Meter
Progress Meter
2007-12-28 07:28:00 When we process large volume of data in MS-Access for Reports it may take few minutes to several minutes to complete them, depending on the size of the transactions involved. We have to run VB Routines or several Action Queries, which takes data from other Queries or Tables, and sequence the process steps through Macros to complete them. If you have Queries of Select Type or Action Query that pulls data from Crosstab Queries and if large volume of transactions involved, it takes longer than the Normal Queries to prepare the output.In all these situations it will be difficult to the user to know how long the whole process will take to complete the task. After running the process few times the user may get a rough idea as how long it will take. Normally at the beginning of a lengthy process the Mouse Pointer can be turned on into an Hourglass shape (Docmd.Hourglass True) indicating that the machine is engaged and at end of the program we can turn it off. But, this method will not giv... More About: Progress , Meter
Progress Meter
2007-12-28 07:28:00 When we process large volume of data in MS-Access for Reports it may take few minutes to several minutes to complete them, depending on the size of the transactions involved. We have to run VB Routines or several Action Queries, which takes data from other Queries or Tables, and sequence the process steps through Macros to complete them. If you have Queries of Select Type or Action Query that pulls data from Crosstab Queries and if large volume of transactions involved, it takes longer than the Normal Queries to prepare the output.In all these situations it will be difficult to the user to know how long the whole process will take to complete the task. After running the process few times the user may get a rough idea as how long it will take. Normally at the beginning of a lengthy process the Mouse Pointer can be turned on into an Hourglass shape (Docmd.Hourglass True) indicating that the machine is engaged and at end of the program we can turn it off. But, this method will not giv... More About: Progress , Meter
Keyboard Shortcuts
2007-12-21 22:02:00 Keyboard Shortcuts are very useful, if practiced and memorized, for frequently used actions without shifting back and forth between mouse and keyboard. Microsoft Access has an extensive list of Keyboard Shortcuts to make our work much easier. You can enter the search term Keyboard Shortcuts on the Help Menu to get a category-wise list. I have selected some of them and given at the end of this Post for reference.If you look carefully on the MS-Access Menu Options you can find one letter in each Menu Item is underlined indicating that it is a Keyboard Shortcut Code. For example: the letter E in Edit menu is underlined indicating that you can open the Edit Menu using ALT+E Keyboard Shortcut. Most of the Options within the Edit Menu also have keyboard shortcut Codes at the right side of each one.When we design Forms we can define our own custom Keyboard Shorts (Access Keys) on the Form Controls in a similar way with the help of & symbol. If you insert & symbol at the left s... More About: Keyboard
Keyboard Shortcuts
2007-12-21 22:02:00 Keyboard Shortcuts are very useful, if practiced and memorized, for frequently used actions without shifting back and forth between mouse and keyboard. Microsoft Access has an extensive list of Keyboard Shortcuts to make our work much easier. You can enter the search term Keyboard Shortcuts on the Help Menu to get a category-wise list. I have selected some of them and given at the end of this Post for reference.If you look carefully on the MS-Access Menu Options you can find one letter in each Menu Item is underlined indicating that it is a Keyboard Shortcut Code. For example: the letter E in Edit menu is underlined indicating that you can open the Edit Menu using ALT+E Keyboard Shortcut. Most of the Options within the Edit Menu also have keyboard shortcut Codes at the right side of each one.When we design Forms we can define our own custom Keyboard Shorts (Access Keys) on the Form Controls in a similar way with the help of & symbol. If you insert & symbol at the left s... More About: Keyboard
Keyboard Shortcuts
2007-12-21 22:02:00 Keyboard Shortcuts are very useful, if practiced and memorized, for frequently used actions without shifting back and forth between mouse and keyboard. Microsoft Access has an extensive list of Keyboard Shortcuts to make our work much easier. You can enter the search term Keyboard Shortcuts on the Help Menu to get a category-wise list. I have selected some of them and given at the end of this Post for reference.If you look carefully on the MS-Access Menu Options you can find one letter in each Menu Item is underlined indicating that it is a Keyboard Shortcut Code. For example: the letter E in Edit menu is underlined indicating that you can open the Edit Menu using ALT+E Keyboard Shortcut. Most of the Options within the Edit Menu also have keyboard shortcut Codes at the right side of each one.When we design Forms we can define our own custom Keyboard Shorts (Access Keys) on the Form Controls in a similar way with the help of & symbol. If you insert & symbol at the left s... More About: Keyboard
Find or Filter Data on Form
2007-12-14 08:50:00 When I started learning Microsoft Access in 1996 the first challenge that I have faced was how to find a particular record on the Data Editing Screen or Filter a group of records on some condition. I was asked to develop a System for the Vehicles Division of our Company, for tracking pending Orders and Receipts of Heavy Equipments and Vehicles. If I am the one who is going to use the System, then some how I could manage to find the information that I want to work with and nobody will know how much time I spent for doing that. But it is going to be used by someone else and it is my job to make it as user friendly as possible. Even though I have good knowledge of BASIC Language at that time, knew nothing about Access Basic (MS-Access Ver.2 language, a primitive form of Visual Basic).I struggled with the problem for a while and finally decided to have a look in the Northwind.mdb sample database for clues. There it was, on the Customer Phone List Form , the technique that I was strug... More About: Find
Find or Filter Data on Form
2007-12-14 08:50:00 When I started learning Microsoft Access in 1996 the first challenge that I have faced was how to find a particular record on the Data Editing Screen or Filter a group of records on some condition. I was asked to develop a System for the Vehicles Division of our Company, for tracking pending Orders and Receipts of Heavy Equipments and Vehicles. If I am the one who is going to use the System, then some how I could manage to find the information that I want to work with and nobody will know how much time I spent for doing that. But it is going to be used by someone else and it is my job to make it as user friendly as possible. Even though I have good knowledge of BASIC Language at that time, knew nothing about Access Basic (MS-Access Ver.2 language, a primitive form of Visual Basic).I struggled with the problem for a while and finally decided to have a look in the Northwind.mdb sample database for clues. There it was, on the Customer Phone List Form , the technique that I was strug... More About: Find
Find or Filter Data on Form
2007-12-14 08:50:00 When I started learning Microsoft Access in 1996 the first challenge that I have faced was how to find a particular record on the Data Editing Screen or Filter a group of records on some condition. I was asked to develop a System for the Vehicles Division of our Company, for tracking pending Orders and Receipts of Heavy Equipments and Vehicles. If I am the one who is going to use the System, then some how I could manage to find the information that I want to work with and nobody will know how much time I spent for doing that. But it is going to be used by someone else and it is my job to make it as user friendly as possible. Even though I have good knowledge of BASIC Language at that time, knew nothing about Access Basic (MS-Access Ver.2 language, a primitive form of Visual Basic).I struggled with the problem for a while and finally decided to have a look in the Northwind.mdb sample database for clues. There it was, on the Customer Phone List Form , the technique that I was strug... More About: Find
Who is Online
2007-12-07 09:01:00 As we already knew we can install Access Database on a Local Area Network (LAN) and several Users can work on it at the same time. But it is difficult to know how many users are actually online with the Application at a given time. Similarly, when there are several MS-Access Databases on a Network under a centrally controlled Security Workgroup it will be interesting to know which users are currently working on the MS-Access Applications on the Network.You don?t need any complicated programs to find this out. When someone opens a Database, say NorthWind.mdb, MS-Access opens a Lock-File with the same name of the Database with file extension .ldb (Northwind.ldb) in the same folder of the Database. You can open this file with Notepad or any other Text Editor and view the contents. This file contains the Workstation Ids and MS-Access User IDs of all the active Users of the Database. The lock file will be deleted by MS-Access when all the Users close the database. In other words if a... More About: Online
Who is Online
2007-12-07 09:01:00 As we already knew we can install Access Database on a Local Area Network (LAN) and several Users can work on it at the same time. But it is difficult to know how many users are actually online with the Application at a given time. Similarly, when there are several MS-Access Databases on a Network under a centrally controlled Security Workgroup it will be interesting to know which users are currently working on the MS-Access Applications on the Network.You don?t need any complicated programs to find this out. When someone opens a Database, say NorthWind.mdb, MS-Access opens a Lock-File with the same name of the Database with file extension .ldb (Northwind.ldb) in the same folder of the Database. You can open this file with Notepad or any other Text Editor and view the contents. This file contains the Workstation Ids and MS-Access User IDs of all the active Users of the Database. The lock file will be deleted by MS-Access when all the Users close the database. In other words if a... More About: Online
Who is Online
2007-12-07 09:01:00 As we already knew we can install Access Database on a Local Area Network (LAN) and several Users can work on it at the same time. But it is difficult to know how many users are actually online with the Application at a given time. Similarly, when there are several MS-Access Databases on a Network under a centrally controlled Security Workgroup it will be interesting to know which users are currently working on the MS-Access Applications on the Network.You don?t need any complicated programs to find this out. When someone opens a Database, say NorthWind.mdb, MS-Access opens a Lock-File with the same name of the Database with file extension .ldb (Northwind.ldb) in the same folder of the Database. You can open this file with Notepad or any other Text Editor and view the contents. This file contains the Workstation Ids and MS-Access User IDs of all the active Users of the Database. The lock file will be deleted by MS-Access when all the Users close the database. In other words if a... More About: Online
Automated Email Alerts
More articles from this author:2007-11-16 11:11:00 Continued from previous Post: Configure Outlook for Lotus Notes.The next procedure, that we are going to look into, is applicable for both Internet as well as Intranet Email s. We have already configured Microsoft Outlook with Lotus Notes Profile for those who would like to try sending scheduled Emails from MS-Access in their Local Area Network (LAN).When we invoke the SendObject Action to send Emails with applicable parameters, the Target Addresses will be picked up from the default MS-Outlook Profile (Internet or Lotus Notes) and transmit Emails to destination.We will send the Mail Alerts on a weekly schedule and little more preparation is required for this event. We need two small tables for the Program.A Local Address Book Table to keep the Recipient?s Addresses in Access. NB: It is possible to attach MS-Outlook Address Book or Lotus Notes Address Book to Microsoft Access Database.We may be having Email addresses of many individuals in our Contact List in MS-Outlook or Lotus No... More About: Automated 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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