Weeks in Review: January 13, 2024

Just Published

^{This section includes videos, articles, and interesting discussions from the past 7 days.}

Articles

• Access Forever

  • Missing Semicolon in ODBC Connect (Fixed), AFo Team

• Philipp Stiefel (CodeKabinett)

  • The Mystery of the STARTTLS command in the CDO library – Or: SmtpUseSsl Explained

• a.p.r. pillai (Learn MS-Access Tips and Tricks)

  • Streamlining Form Module Code Presentation

• Crystal Long (Access Access Newsletter)

  • Benefits of Word Document Properties and modifying them with Access

• (Alessandro Grimaldi)[https://www.alessandrogrimaldi.com/Index.asp]

  • Highlights - Release of new book "Access on Steroids"

• Mathieu Guindon (Rubberduck VBA)

  • RD3: December Update

• Jonathan Halder | Steven Halder (Access JumpStart 2.0)

  • TDD – 031 – Moving from Dictionary to Collection
  • TDD – 030 – Some major refactoring and adding a test
  • 01 – Access Runtime 101
  • TDD – 029 – Getting one field to audit… almost
  • TDD – 028 – Full throttle forward! Make the test pass and make another failing test!
  • TDD – 027 – Considering what the class consumer wants
  • TDD – 026 – Getting back to the user requirements
  • TDD – 025 – Where did TDD go wrong and renaming tests
  • TDD – 024 – Now Where Were We? Form Auditor Recap

• Daniel Pineault (DEVelopers HUT)

  • Find and Save Outlook E-mails to Disk as MSG files
  • Clear The VBA/VBE Immediate Window

• Colin Riddington (Isladogs on Access)

  • AEU23: Streamline Form Module Code (updated)
  • CDO EMail Tester (updated)
  • Multiple Group & Filter (updated)
  • Open New Form & Close Original Form
  • Get Control Properties Using Code
  • Calculate Distance Between Locations
  • Extended File Properties (updated)

• Crystal Long (Ms Access Gurus | Access Access Newsletter)

  • Modify Word Document Properties with Access

• Mike Wolfe (NoLongerSet)

  • How to Open a File with its Default Application in VBA
  • Viewer Question: Sort a Continuous Form by Clicking on the Column Label of a Combo Box
  • Archive Collection: Date Functions
  • Archive Collection: Debugging
  • Archive Collection: Design Functions
  • Archive Collection: DevCon 2023
  • Archive Collection: Window Functions
  • Archive Collection: Combo Boxes
  • Archive Collection: String Functions
  • Tab Controls with Hidden Tabs
  • HOW TO: Make Backward-Compatible Changes to SQL SELECT Queries
  • Concatenating Strings in VBA: Plus (+) vs. Ampersand (&)

Videos‌

• Access User Group Recordings (YouTube channel)

  • Streamline Form Module Code in the standalone Class Module (51:06): with A.P.R. Pillai
  • The Power of Sub Classes in VBA (58:04): with Kent Gorrell

• George Hepworth (YouTube channel)

  • The Most Important PowerApps Flow for Access Developers to Know (09:44)
  • The Demo: Wanna Feed Your Need for Speed? Named Formulas instead of Collections for PowerApps (02:31)

• Sean MacKenzie (YouTube channel)

  • Immediate Window (15:54): How to Use the Immediate Window in Microsoft Access
  • Replication in Microsoft Access? (0:49)

• Richard Rost (YouTube channel)

  • Colored Data Bars (18:19): Create Colored Data Bars in Microsoft Access Combining Data Bars with Color Scales
  • Color Scales (19:36): Creating Excel-Like Color Scales in Microsoft Access with Conditional Formatting
  • Data Bars (15:24): Creating Excel-Like Data Bars in Microsoft Access Using Conditional Formatting
  • Static Variables (14:12): Using Static Variables for Selective Code Execution in Microsoft Access
  • Forms Bound to Queries (22:34): When You Should and Should Not Bind a Form to a Query in Microsoft Access
  • Spawn Copies: Part 1 (14:54): How to Spawn Multiple Copies of the Same Database in Microsoft Access
  • Spawn Copies: Part 2 (17:17): How to Spawn Multiple Copies of the Same Database in Microsoft Access, Part 2
  • Next Payment Date (25:16): Calculate Next Credit Card Payment or Reporting Dates in Microsoft Access
  • Edge Part 9: Fill Out Forms (22:56): Using the New Edge Browser Control in Microsoft Access

• Pharos Technology [Dr. Richard Hanson] (YouTube channel)

  • Using Format Painter in Access Forms (0:48)
  • Transforming Controls in Microsoft Access (0:58)

• Edcelle John Gulfan (YouTube channel)

  • How to Open MS Access Options Dialog via VBA (0:25)

New to Me

^{This section includes content I discovered this week that has been around for awhile.}

Nothing new this week.

Upcoming Access User Group Events

^{NOTE: Only English-language user group meetings with scheduled guest speakers or topics are listed.  For a complete list of upcoming events, visit the Access User Group event calendar.}

• January 30, 2024: Maria Barnes - 2024 Plans for Access (JUST ADDED)
• February 1, 2024: John Colby - What is a Framework and Why Would Access Developers Use One? (JUST ADDED)
• February 7, 2024: Carlos Quintero - Features of MZ-Tools to make you more productive with VBA
• March 6, 2024: Thomas Möller - Better Access Charts in the new Edge Browser Control
• March 15, 2024: Access Day - one-day in-person Access Conference in Seattle, WA area
• April 3, 2024: Dale Fye - Working with Command Bars and the Access Shortcut Tool
• April 18-19, 2024: Access DevCon Vienna - (Online in Microsoft Teams) Agenda to be announced
• May 1, 2024: Colin Riddington - View & Edit Import/Export (IMEX) Data Task Specifications

‌

Access Roadmap

There were NO CHANGES to the roadmap between the last Week in Review (2023-12-30) and this one (2024-01-13).

The development priorities were last updated at the German-language AEK conference on October 14, 2023.

Listed below is a snapshot of the official Access Roadmap.

"In Development", "Rolling Out", and "Launched" are Microsoft terms that I pulled straight from the public roadmap.

"Development Priorities" do not appear on the Access Roadmap.  Instead, they get updated from time to time in official Access blog posts or Access engineering team presentations.  I'll include a link to the source of the current development priorities as they get updated.

Development Priorities

The items listed below reflect Microsoft's order of priority and were published in the following article, Microsoft's Plans for Access in the Next 6 Months.

The items are listed in priority order according to Principal Engineering Manager Dale Rector.  The "Expected Benefit" of each feature is shown in italics after the description of the feature itself.

New priorities added since the previous set of priorities are shown in bold below.  Dropped priorities are struck through.

1. Continued Focus on Monthly Issue Fixes: (Monthly Issue Fix Blog) Improved product quality and reliability
2. Access becomes Large Address Aware: Removal of key customer error issue
3. Dataverse export improvements: Make it easier and faster for admins to migrate their data to Dataverse
4. Large monitor support for forms: Improved support of Access on the latest hardware
5. Modern Chart Improvements: Expanded support for the most popular chart types and options
6. SQL Editor Improvements: Significantly improved SQL query editing experience
7. Inconsistent Database Error Fix

Special thanks to Karl Donaubauer for posting the updated priorities at AccessForever.org.

In Development

• NOV 2023: Making 32-bit Access Large Address Aware (LAA)

Rolling Out

None.

Launched

• APR 2023: Modern Web Browser Control
• MAR 2023: New Modern Web Browser Form Control