Access Cookbook - Ken Getz [4]
Chapter 11
No matter how much you've avoided using the Windows API in Access applications, in this chapter you'll discover that it's really not a major hurdle. We'll present some interesting uses of the Windows API, with example forms and modules for each solution. In most cases, using these examples in your own applications takes little more work than importing a module or two and calling some functions. You'll learn how to restrict the mouse movement to a specific area on the screen, how to run another program from your VBA code, and how to wait until that program is done before continuing. We'll demonstrate a method for exiting Windows under program control and how to retrieve information about your Access installation and the current Windows environment. The possibilities are endless once you start diving into the Windows API, and this chapter is an excellent place to start.
Chapter 12
This chapter gives you examples of using Automation to interact with most of the Microsoft Office applications. One solution uses the statistical, analytical, and financial prowess of the Excel function libraries, directly from Access; another shows how to programmatically create an Excel chart. You'll learn how to retrieve document summary information for any selected Word document and how to perform mail merges using Access data. Other examples demonstrate how to use Access to control PowerPoint and how to add contacts in Outlook.
Chapter 13
Distributing Access applications normally means that your users have to install Access (or the Access runtime version, available as part of Microsoft Office XP Developer) on their local machines. What if users could run your applications over a corporate intranet, without requiring Access to be installed? That's the goal of DAPs. This chapter introduces some of the concepts you'll need to understand in order to take advantage of this feature, which was added in Access 2000 and significantly improved in Access 2002. You'll learn how to customize the navigation controls and how to use your own controls for navigation. You'll find tips on creating pages that allow users to update data and valuable techniques for managing your data connections, and you'll learn how to adjust the default settings for the different sections of new DAPs to give your applications a consistent look.
Chapter 14
This chapter shows you how to take advantage of the new data options available in Access Data Projects, which connect directly to a SQL Server database, and provides solutions that address traditional MDB databases linked to SQL Server data. You'll learn how to dynamically connect to SQL Server at runtime, whether you are using an ADP or an MDB, and you'll learn how to allow multiple users to share a single ADP. You'll see how to make the most of the Server Filter By Form feature in ADPs and how to pass parameters to stored procedures in both ADPs and MDBs. You'll also discover how you can use an ADP to connect to multiple SQL Server databases at once, even though the ADP seems to force you to select a single one.
Chapter 15
As powerful as Data Access Pages are, they only represent one way to gain access to your Access data from a browser. This chapter introduces you to other Microsoft Office web technologies you can use to "webify" your Access databases. You'll learn how to use Microsoft FrontPage to create a web form that posts its data to an Access database. You'll also learn how to use the FrontPage Database Interface Wizard to create an ASP or ASP.NET front end to an Access database. You'll