Disappearing Primary Keys Notwithstanding, You Can Migrate to SharePoint

Recently, a poster at Utter Access asked for help moving Access tables from an existing database to SharePoint tables (or more accurately, to SharePoint lists). His goal was to link to those tables in a Hybrid Access database. One of the issues raised was the supposed limit on the number of records you can export. Fortunately, a couple of really knowledgeable people, Albert Kallal and Bonnie Hicks, stepped in and helped address the poster’s questions.

"Microsoft Access in a SharePoint World" Is Available

I'm delighted to announce publication of a new, first-of-its-kind, book on Access 2010 and SharePoint 2010. It's been a long time in the writing, but we finally wrapped it up.

How Much Does an Access Database Cost?

Lately I've been pondering the implications of some of the questions we get at Utter Access. It used to be that I worried more about giving the questioner an answer appropriate to their situation, but lately, I’ve also been asking myself, "How much will that technique cost?"

Time Travel, or plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

I've been posting at Utter Access since June of 2002. That's nine years of getting help and giving help. Utter Access is a very fine forum, widely acknowledged to be one of the premier sources of Access help on the web. I absolutely agree that it is, although I am very sure there are other fine forums, staffed by volunteers who are as knowledgeable and dedicated as my friends at UA. I just think we're very good.

Don't Be THAT Guy

This one will be short. A few weeks ago I decided to update an old application I created a few years ago for a friend. It was created with Access 2002. The new version is in Access 2010 and it showcases a few 2010 specific features, as well as an updated table structure. I worked on it off and on over a couple of weeks. One night I was tweaking a form when Access threw an error, informing me it had experienced a problem and had to close. It allowed me to make a backup of the file and closed gracefully. That's not too uncommon, and most of the time recovery means finding the problem and correcting it before moving on.

Sometime I just want to be single, okay?

(Guest blog by Banana)

On the surface, it appears that VBA does not like it very much when you want to have a Singleton class. Whenever I write a class module, which is kind of rare given the general patterns in Access/VBA development, it's almost inevitable I want a Singleton. The only reason it's a class in first place is because I need some variables declared WithEvents. We can't do that in a standard module, so it has to be a class module.

No, Excel is NOT a Database

So, what's got my dander up today? I’m glad you asked.

Excel is NOT a database. You can't import Excel spreadsheets into Access and call that a database. You can't create "spreadsheets" directly in Access and call that a database. I wish more people understood that. It would make my blood pressure go down, probably down a lot.