No Longer Set

Lazy Loading Combo Boxes

Don't load tens of thousands of records into a combo box. Instead, wait for the user to start typing, and then load only what they need.

twinBASIC

twinBASIC Update: June 13, 2021

Highlights include Like statement support and a new VS Code command to create new project files (no more downloading .zip files from twinbasic.com!).

Combo Boxes

Cascading Combo Boxes

Cascading combo boxes are one of the best ways to find data in a fixed hierarchy. Here's what the concept looks like in action.

Combo Boxes

Multi-Column Progressive Combo Box Filtering

You, too, can learn to filter your combo boxes by every visible column.

Combo Boxes

Progressive Combo Box Filtering

Autocomplete for combo boxes with hundreds of thousands of entries? It's possible with the progressive filtering technique.

Combo Boxes

Combo Box Benefits

An overview of some of the benefits of combo boxes, including autocomplete, hierarchical searching, and auto-updated most frequently used lists.

Combo Boxes

Combo Boxes: Use Responsibly

Comic book legend Stan Lee captured the essence of the Microsoft Access combo box control in six words, "With great power, comes great responsibility."

Combo Boxes

Combo Boxes and Target Sizes

Just like in darts, it's easier to hit a larger target when using the mouse. With this in mind, let's make our combo boxes more user-friendly.

twinBASIC

twinBASIC Update: June 6, 2021

Highlights include Mid statement support, DefType support, multiple bug fixes, and a (sort of) announcement regarding unit testing support.

Basic

Combo Box: Behavior Deep Dive

Join me as I take you on an animated gif guided tour of the default behavior of the Microsoft Access combo box, with emphasis on the autocomplete feature.

Announcement

Combo Boxapalooza!

Join me at 9 AM EDT on Friday, June 18th, where I'll help you unlock the true potential of my favorite Access control: the combo box.

Intermediate

Come Here Often?

When designing a user experience (UX), the single most important question to ask yourself is this: How often will this feature be used?

Basic

Field Comments on Linked Tables

In this 6-part series, I cover everything you need to know about field descriptions for linked tables with Access and SQL Server back-end databases.

SQL Server

Pushing Field Comments to SQL Server

A VBA routine that takes field comments from a front-end linked table and pushes them to the corresponding back-end table in SQL Server.

Bug Alert

Bug Alert: vbWatchdog

How to fix the E_VBWATCHDOG_UNSUPPORTED_VBAVERSION error.

twinBASIC

twinBASIC Update: May 30, 2021

Highlights include improved compiler stability, making the Optional keyword optional, and setting command-line arguments for debugging.

Basic

Easy Access to Field Descriptions

The ExtractFieldComments() function returns a dictionary of field names and their descriptions from a TableDef object.

SQL Server

Setting Field Descriptions on Linked SQL Server Tables

What good are field descriptions in SQL Server if you don't see them in your Access front-end? Here's some code to bring those comments forward into Access.

SQL Server

UPSERT a Column Description in SQL Server

Let's combine the stored procedures to Update and Insert SQL Server field comments into a single, all-encompassing solution.

SQL Server

Setting SQL Server Field Descriptions

There are two basic ways to set field descriptions in SQL Server: via SSMS and T-SQL. Let's explore both.

Basic

Field Comments on Linked Access Tables

In part 1 of this series on field comments, we discuss maintaining column descriptions on tables linked to MS Access back-end files.

twinBASIC

twinBASIC: Setting Cmd Line Args in Debug Mode

The VB6 Command$() function returns command line arguments in twinBASIC. But, for now, we still need a workaround to set cmd line args while debugging.

twinBASIC

twinBASIC Update: May 23, 2021

Highlights include passing (pseudo-)command-line arguments to a twinBASIC console app and an update from Wayne on the project's progress.

twinBASIC

Pseudo-Command Line Args in twinBASIC

I couldn't figure out how to pass command line arguments to a twinBASIC console application. So I improvised a solution.

Tools

AccessUI - Data Source Manager

Tired of dealing with the limitations and poor UI of Access's built-in linked table manager? Try this FREE improved version from Kevin Bell.