Mike Wolfe

Commentary

Backward Compatibility: A Go Perspective

"What actually makes code, advice, and tutorials obsolete?" Let's explore the answers as they relate to the Go programming language and MS Access.

Advanced

Recursion Demystified: Creating Subfolders

Recursion: it's not just for calculating factorials any more! A practical example of using recursion to create multiple missing subfolders.

Code Library

Converting Numbers to Text

Need to print business checks directly from Microsoft Access? You'll need a way to convert numbers into text. The NumToString function does just that.

Code Library

KeepFormOnCanvas(): Get Back Here, Form!

What happens if the user resizes their Access window so that our form can't open in its entirety? KeepFormOnCanvas() to the rescue!

Code Library

Fun with Form Windows

Using my FillAccessWindow function to resize Form and Report objects relative to the amount of available space on the Access canvas.

Version Control

Migrating Mercurial

I had to update the settings file for 120 Mercurial repositories. I saved hours of tedium using a regex in the "Find in Files" feature of Notepad++.

Code Library

"Convenience" Date Functions

The DateSerial function is easy to write, but it's not as easy to read. Let's make our code easier to read with some "convenience functions."

Intermediate

Decompile then Deploy

Save disk space and increase startup performance of your program updates by running /decompile before deployment.

Intermediate

Debugging Sideways Images in Access

Ever import a normal-looking image in Access, only to have it turn sideways on you in the image control? The problem may lie in the EXIF data.

Commentary

7th Grade Career Day

Using this approach, I manage to teach multiple programming concepts to absolute beginners in the span of about fifteen minutes.

Signal vs. Noise

Signal vs. Noise: Error Handling

To boost our signal to noise ratio, we can increase our lines of meaningful code or decrease the lines of boilerplate.

Debugging

Debugging Automation Errors

Come join me on a journey debugging hard-to-reproduce "Automation error" bugs.

AutoHotKey

"Toggle" Hotkey for the Immediate Window

Am I the only one who finds it annoying that [Ctl] + [G] doesn't *toggle* between the immediate window and the code window? Let's fix that.

Advanced

JetShowPlan: A Primer

You may be familiar with JetShowPlan, but I guarantee you've never read an article about it quite like this one.

Code Library

Now you have two problems

Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems. --Jamie Zawinski

SQL Server

Tuning Access Query Performance

The four best tools/techniques for tuning Access query performance: JetShowPlan, Process Monitor, TraceSQLMode, and SQL Profiler.

Hidden Features

VBA's Case Changing "Feature"

VBA likes to change the casing of our code (upper/lower/mixed). It may seem random, but it's not. Read all the details here.

SQL Server

Cloning a SQL Server Database

The fastest, simplest, and cheapest way to clone a SQL Server database for debugging or testing. Even works with SQL Server Express!

SQL Server

All Hail Ola!

If you're managing SQL Server and you're not using Ola Hallengren's scripts, then you're doing it wrong.

Commentary

Web Apps - Bane of my Existence

Whatever modicum of credibility I may have had with "real programmers" I am about to douse in gasoline and light on fire with this article.

Signal vs. Noise

When Good Comments Go Bad

Bad actors carry out disinformation campaigns to poison our discourse. But when we write code, sometimes we're the bad actors.

Code Library

Listing External Table Sources

Using the Parse() function to list linked tables by source. Use this when you want to refer to Linked Table Manager info while writing code.

Code Library

Part and Parse()-l

Take the Tag property and OpenArgs argument to the next level. This function makes it easy to assign and extract multiple values from a single string.

Commentary

Cruft Sale!

Everything must go!!! Dead code, obsolete reports, and bunches of binary backups! No offer too big or too small!

Code Library

Don't Settle for the "Status" Quo

Wherein I wrap Access's built-in status bar functions inside a class module for more readable code.