Mike Wolfe - No Longer Set (Page 53)

Commentary

Some Bugs are Better than Others

Not all bugs are created equal. Avoid the expensive ones by making more of the ones that are easy to find and fix.

Code Library

Getting a Temporary File Name with VBA

Here is a simple function to generate an unused temporary file name in VBA.

Code Library

Finding the Temporary Folder with VBA

Be a good steward of your users' file system. If you are creating temporary files, be sure to create them in the designated temporary folder.

Code Library

Nothing To See Here

Introducing InformNoData(), a simple function to improve the user experience when there is no report data to show.

Intermediate

Parameterized Constructors in VBA

VBA does not allow for parameterized constructors. We can work around that, though, using the Factory pattern and a strong naming convention.

Side-by-Side Reports in Access

A simple technique to view an old and new version of a report during development, while hiding the old (or new) version in production.

AutoHotKey

Streamlining SaveAsText / LoadFromText

SaveAsText and LoadFromText are indispensable for Access version control. They're also annoying to type repeatedly. Let's fix that.

Version Control

Reverting Unwanted Changes

Using Version Control in Access is like having a time machine that makes it easy to undo design mistakes. Here's a quick overview of the process.

Version Control

It's All About the Diff

How can you figure out what you changed on a form when you can't remember changing anything on that form? Version control, of course.

Reports

PreviewReport Function

This custom function is the simplest and safest way to preview reports in any Microsoft Access application.

Reports

Future Compatibility

Use this trick to support future functionality while still getting your code to compile in older versions of Access.

Reports

Avoid the Cascading Maximize

Prevent a full screen report from forcing the calling form to be maximized with this clever workaround.

Reports

The 'OpenReport' Action Was Canceled

Does it annoy you that using the Report NoData event as Codd intended results in a runtime error? Because it annoys me.

Reports

OpenReport Shows Wrong Data

Calling DoCmd.OpenReport on a report that's already open will not update the filtering on the report. You have to close it first.

Reports

Previewing Reports

That sound of your printer warming up means you forgot the acViewPreview flag again. You're better off avoiding DoCmd.OpenReport entirely.

Reports

Report Annoyances

Five things I hate about the default behavior of DoCmd.OpenReport.

Version Control

Peace of Mind from Version Control

"Do you want to save your changes?" No, not if I just added temporary debugging code. But, Yes, if I also added production code. What to do?

Watches

Break When Value Changes

When debugging VBA, you can watch an expression and halt code execution whenever its value changes. Let's explore exactly how that works.

Watches

Break When Value Is True

When debugging VBA, you can watch an expression and halt code execution as soon as it evaluates to True. Let's explore exactly how that works.

Watches

Watch Expression

A deeper than necessary dive into the exact expression evaluation behavior of the basic "Watch Expression" in VBA.

Basic

Watching and Waiting

Careful what you watch for! Monitoring changes to a slow expression can grind your debug session to a halt.

Code Library

How to Set a Breakpoint Inside of an Access Query

Did you ever want to set a breakpoint inside of an executing query? How about inside a form event property? This trick lets you do it.

Commentary

Reducing Lost Code Recovery Time

How do you reduce your recovery time when you've lost a bunch of code you just wrote? To misquote Bart Simpson, "Version control, my man."

The Extra Resume: Revisited

Pre-staging the extra Resume means, "there's no code to change when debugging." But is that really a good thing?

SQL Server

Brent Ozar: Date Table Fan

Brent Ozar, legendary SQL Server guru, makes his case for using a "Date Table." The video is all done in T-SQL, but the concepts apply equally to ACE backends.