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Microsoft Access 2002

    Microsoft Access is definitely a complex software while being at the same time an highly customizable application aimed to help users manage their data through what we call a database software. Nonetheless Microsoft Access is so versatile you can use it to create a small database of your audio CDs and friends or to manage the stocks of your international corporation where each sales employee can use a laptop PC to connect to the server and check via Access the status of the stocks. Whether you are working with databases to capture sales data within your company or just keeping track of important lists for personal use, working with databases is often not as easy or as intuitive as it could be. A key design goal for Access 10 was to make it easier for users to build and use their databases. This goal was accomplished by providing users with a broad range of tools they need to find and use more of the product. Nonetheless if some areas of the software are indeed more approachable, the whole software remains complex. One of the new feature Access developers were waiting for is the XML support: using import & export feature you can implement XML to create real integrated applications in combination with the build Visual Basic for Applications programming language.

Speech - Access 10 is enabled for the use of speech for both voice dictation and command-and-control scenarios. Users can dictate text and navigate menus using speech and voice commands.

Data Access Page Designer - The Data Access Page HTML Designer provides users with a variety of new and improved enhancements that enable users to design their Data Access Pages more effectively. Examples of just some of these new and improved enhancements include:

• Extended properties from both Microsoft Jet and Microsoft SQL Server™ 2000 databases. This means that lookups are dropped as lookups, and label properties are appropriately set.
   

• Improved hyperlink handling, making it easier to create pages that are linked together.
   

• With improved control sizing, users can see the actual size of the control while sizing, allowing better snap-to-grid support.
   

• Multi-select support through the keyboard and mouse enables users to apply sizing, horizontal and vertical spacing, alignment, and property settings to data access pages.
   

• Auto Sum now makes it easier than ever to create totals.
   

• With the Data Outline, developers can view and set properties on recordset.
   

• New connection properties make it simple to build applications that use the same connection string. This makes it easy to move applications from test to live.

Efficient Optional Access 10 File Format - Using the new optional Access 10 file format, users can enjoy faster access and data processing for large databases. In addition, this format seamlessly handles future changes to Access, such as new properties and events, which have caused file format changes in previous releases.

Multiple Undo and Redo - Users can undo and redo multiple actions in Design view of the following objects: MDB tables, MDB queries, ADP views, ADP stored procedures, ADP functions, forms, reports, data access pages, macros, and modules.

Shortcut Keys - Access 10 provides users with a number of new shortcut keys that help users accomplish their database tasks more easily. New shortcut keys include:

• In Design View of a form or report with the focus either in the Design view window or in the property sheet, F7 takes the user to the Code window.
   

• In a Design view window, F4 takes the user to the property sheet.
   

• Within a property sheet in Design view, SHIFT+F7 moves the window focus back to the design surface without changing the control focus.
   

• In any table, query, form, report, page, view, or stored procedure, pressing CTRL+> or CTRL+PERIOD and CTRL+< or CTRL+COMMA toggles between views.
   

Conversion Error Logging - If an error occurs when converting a database from Access 95, Access 97, or Access 2000 to Access 10, a table is created that lists information about each error. This makes the process of solving problems in converted databases much easier.

Another thing Access aimed to do was to make it simpler to access and analyze important information wherever it exists. More specifically, Access 10 improves the ability for users to access information from corporate-level, back-end databases such as Microsoft SQL Server. Access 10 also makes improvements in how users can analyze that data with tools such as PivotTable® dynamic views and PivotChart® dynamic views (that were previously only available in Excel) and Data Access Pages that enable users to extend corporate databases applications to the Web.

Access PivotTables and PivotCharts - Users can view any .MDB table or query, or ADP table, view, stored procedure, function, or form in either PivotTable or PivotChart view. With this, users can perform data analysis and build rich PivotTable and PivotChart view solutions quickly and simply. Furthermore, users can save their PivotTable and PivotChart views as Data Access Pages that can be viewed and manipulated by others via their browser.

XML Presentation Output - With Access 10, you can quickly publish data to the Web using Internet standard XML/XSL. Users can export an Access report, form, table, or query to an XML Document that includes an associated XSL file for presentation. This enables users to view forms and reports created in Access with any Internet browser that supports HTML 4.0.

Save Forms and Reports as Data Access Pages - Quickly move your existing Access solutions to the Web by saving your existing forms and reports as Data Access Pages. Instead of creating new Data Access Pages, users can just perform a Save As to create Web versions of their Forms and Reports.

Stored Procedure Designer - When using an Access Data Project, users can create and modify simple SQL Server stored procedures (aka Action Queries) using the Stored Procedure Designer. This enables users to create stored procedures without having to learn Transact SQL.

Batch Updates for Access Projects - When using an Access Form in an Access Data Project, Access 10 enables users to specify that any updates made to the records are saved and then sent to the server in a single batch.

This was previously only possible by the developer writing code in the form. Now this functionality is expected by setting properties associated with the form. In addition, there are new properties, methods, and events to manage the commit and rollback process when the batch is submitted to the server. Another design goal was to give developers the tools they need to build powerful, sophisticated database solutions that seamlessly integrate with enterprise-wide data while ensuring forward and backwards compatibility with new and existing database solutions. Access 10 now provides the tools to build solutions that integrate and leverage Internet-standards, such as XML, XSL, and dynamic Web pages, to better allow for the sharing and presentation of data across the interanet and Internet.

XML Support - Access 10 supports XML throughout the product. XML data can be created by exporting from a Jet or SQL Server database and can be imported into a Jet or SQL Server database.

Access also makes it easier to import this schema or data documents into either SQL Server or Jet, by giving users the ability to include or exclude data or schema as well as determine whether the data should be appended to overwrite any existing information. Additional benefits associated with XML support are:
 

• Users can create parts of or entire relational databases simply by importing an XSD schema from anywhere on the Web.
   

• Developers can create XSLT (data transformation) documents that allow data of different formats to move between SQL Server sources.
   

• Developers can use the Access Report Writer to create Web accessible reports.
   

• Developers can create Web presentations that run from either the server (ASP) or the client (HTM).
   

• When creating reports that contain data that rarely changes, such as quarterly reports, developers can use XML data documents rather than requiring an active connection to a server.
   

• Developers can limit active connections to corporate servers by creating “live” reports that use SQL Server 2000 HTTPSQL to return a read-only XML data document.
   

XSL Transforma-tions and Presentations - Developers can create their own custom XSL data transformations to be used when exporting data to an XML Document.

This enables developers to change the format of the exported data or to create their own presentation of the data.

This provides a simple mechanisim to translate XML Documents from one format to another. For example, data exported from Access could be formatted into a structure understood by a SAP or custom corporate system.

Bind Data Access Pages to embedded or Linked XML Files - Access 10 enables developers to publish Data Access Pages on a Web server and enables users to access data without being required to use Remote Data Objects on the server. This makes it easier for publishing read-only Data Access Pages on the Internet over a firewall.

Extended Methods and Properties - Access 10 provides a variety of new methods and properties including:

• Being able to set up lookup relationships, validation text, formatting, and subdatasheets against tables, views, and functions.
   

• Programmatically control printing properties via a new Printer object and Printers collection.
   

• Being able to get the DateCreated and DateModified properties for any Access object by using the AccessObject object.
   

• New methods and properties such as CompactRepair, ConvertAccessProject, AddItem, and RemoveItem methods anda new BrokenReference property that makes it easy to detect if a project has a broken reference.

Access 10 provides a variety of new methods and properties including:

• Being able to set up lookup relationships, validation text, formatting, and subdatasheets against tables, views, and functions.
   

• Programmatically control printing properties via a new Printer object and Printers collection.
   

• Being able to get the DateCreated and DateModified properties for any Access object by using the AccessObject object.
   

• New methods and properties such as CompactRepair, ConvertAccessProject, AddItem, and RemoveItem methods anda new BrokenReference property that makes it easy to detect if a project has a broken reference.

Relative Path Support for Data Access Pages - Simplify deployment of Data Access Pages using an Access Jet database by specifying a relative path to the database or by using a common connection for all Data Access Pages using the ConnectionFile property.