Mike Wolfe - No Longer Set (Page 49)

4 Uses for Transparent Command Buttons in Microsoft Access

When you set a command button's Transparent property to True, you won't see it but you can still interact with it. This opens up a world of possibilities.

Code Library

How to Highlight the Current Record in a Continuous Form

Step-by-step instructions for applying a custom highlight to the currently selected record in a continuous form in Microsoft Access.

Convenience Functions

Avoiding the Error "invalid reference to the property CurrentRecord"

Error number 2455, "You entered an expression that has an invalid reference to the property CurrentRecord," is annoying, but there is an easy fix.

Basic

Anatomy of a CRUD App

Microsoft Access is a great platform for developing desktop CRUD apps. But what the heck is a CRUD app?

UX

6 Reasons Why I No Longer Use Bound Forms to Add Records in Microsoft Access

Just because something can serve two purposes, doesn't mean it should. (Reason number four can be a real game-changer.)

Intermediate

First, Make It Right (Then Make It Fast)

In queries, nested IIf statements are fast and (relatively) easy to write. The problem is they are nearly impossible to read.

twinBASIC Weekly Update

twinBASIC Update: June 27, 2021

Highlights include support for external version control, the official launch of the code prettifier, and support for resources and visual styles via manifest files.

Commentary

Microsoft Access's Multiple Personality Disorder

The dual nature of Access–and the ignorance of this reality–is a major source of the shade that "real programmers" throw its way.

Business

Prices vs. Estimates (And How to Educate Your Clients on the Difference)

A price is a fixed amount. An estimate is just a guess. But try telling that to an angry client at the end of an over-budget project. There's a better way.

twinBASIC

How to Use Version Control with twinBASIC

You can now extract the embedded text files from .twinproj containers for use in version control. I wrote a batch file to make the process even easier.

Business

How Access Developers Can Charge Their Existing Clients More (Without Feeling Guilty)

When you offer only a single option, a proposal is an ultimatum. Add in some monopoly power, and that proposal can start to feel like extortion.

Business

The Most Profitable Mindset Shift for Access Consultants

What do you call it when a client uses emotional language on multiple occasions to describe the same problem? A business opportunity.

Tools

Commento vs. Cove Comments

Commento and Cove are both third-party comment hosting platforms. Which one works best with Ghost CMS?

twinBASIC Weekly Update

twinBASIC Update: June 20, 2021

Highlights include custom events in twinBASIC classes, full Debug.Print syntax support, and an experimental code prettifier.

Business

The Biggest Mistake Access Developers Make When Writing a Custom Software Proposal

I made this mistake myself for years. The good news is it is very easy to fix!

Presentations

Advanced Combo Box Techniques

A list of resources and further reading to support my presentation on Advanced Combo Box Techniques.

Commentary

The Two Keys to Building Great Access Applications

The best Access applications prioritize data discovery and efficiency.

Combo Boxes

5 Advanced Combo Box Techniques to Take Your Access Forms to the Next Level

Increase the combo box's "target area," lazy load your data, add progressive filtering (for multiple columns!), and implement dead-simple cascading.

Code Library

The One Function Every VBA Developer Needs in a WithEvents Class

Your WithEvents event handlers will only run if you set the event property to "[Event Procedure]." Here's a safe and easy way to do that.

Combo Boxes

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 Weekly Update

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.