Doug's pathetic Microsoft Access page
by Doug Steele

Hey, this is boring. Take me back to the Index!


While I am committed to using Microsoft Access, I'm afraid I spend more time (some, like my wife, might say too much!) hanging about answering questions at Utter Access forum. To this end, I've been honoured by Microsoft by being named a MVP (Most Valued Professional). See my MVP profile.

The fact that I answer questions in the newsgroup should not be taken as an implication that I'm willing to answer questions via private e-mail.

MVP logo
I believe in forums such as Utter Access. Sending private e-mail, to my mind, defeats the purpose of such forums. First, it's of less benefit to you, since now you're tied to me having to check my e-mail, find time to reply, etc., whereas if you post to the forum, someone else may be able to answer your question instead of me. As well, if you have a particular problem, odds are someone else out there has the same problem, and they won't benefit from private e-mails. Remember, too, that everything posted to the forum gets archived, so others can benefit for a long time (and perhaps I won't have to answer the question again <g>).
Book Fellow MVP Arvin Meyer and I recently co-authored Access Solutions: Tips, Tricks, and Secrets from Microsoft Access MVPs for Wiley.
I'm proud of this book that John Viescas, Ben Clothier and I wrote for Addison-Wesley!

While you're waiting, check out some of the links that I've found useful in the past. I've started to find myself doing more in Visual Basic than Access these days, so I've added some VB links as well.

Access

The Access Junkie
Jeff Conrad, self proclaimed "Access Junkie", has accumulated a great set of references here
The Access Web
The best (bar none)
Allen Browne's Home Page
Includes, among other items, a good article about working with dates when your default is non-American.
Black Moshannon Systems (Speed Ferret)
Good Find & Replace utility that works with Microsoft Access, SQL Server, and Visual Basic
FMS, Inc.
FMS makes some very impressive utilities for MS Access
Microsoft Access 2003 VBA Language Reference
This download contains the Microsoft Office Access 2003 Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) Language Reference as a compiled Help file.
Microsoft Access Knowledge Base Help Files
Download the "official" Microsoft Access Knowledge Bases here (Access 97 and earlier only)
PK Solutions Home Page
For Microsoft Access related tools and services, including the most reputable Data Recovery Rescue Service for Microsoft Access
Rick Fisher Consulting (Find & Replace utility)
Another great Find & Replace utility for Access
Stephen Lebans's Website
Some amazing ways of achieving things you never thought you could in Access! Unfortunately for us, Stephen has decided to retire from all things Access, but he's keeping his site around for our edification.
Superior Software for Windows (SSW)
Impressive utilities for Access, VB and .NET Developers
Tony's Main Access Page
Has good stuff on emailing and help. Also some very useful free utilities.
Trigeminal Software, Inc. (English)
MichKa has forgotten more about Access than most of us can ever hope to learn!
Trevors Home Page
A little dated now, but still has some good stuff.
vb123.com
Resources from Garry Robinson (and home of the Access Unlimited newsletter)

VB

Common Controls Replacement Project
Dedicated to providing better, smaller controls than Microsoft
(Alas, the project has chosen to disband. You can still download the results of their work, though.)
Home of Brad's VB-32 programs and samples
To quote Brad, "A unique collection of freeware programs and code samples catering to the intermediate and advanced Visual Basic programmer familiar with the Win32 shell, common controls, and API."
Karl E. Peterson's Classic VB Code
Not only does Karl have a fabulous resource here, but he's also one of the hard workers who ensures that the mvps.org website runs tickety-boo.
VBNet: The Visual Basic Developers Resource Centre
IMHO, this site (run by Randy Birch) is the VB site to visit! Randy concentrates on using Windows APIs, and most of his code will run (albeit with a little tweaking) in VBA.
YAW
L.J. Johnson's "Yet Another Web-page" is a little more than the title implies...

ADO

ADO Connection Strings
Carl Prothman has virtually every known ADO connection scenario described here.

My Stuff

A More Complete DateDiff Function
Calculate the difference between two date/time values down to the second.
An Alternative Database Documentor
An add-in (courtesy of Jeff Conrad, Access Junkie) based on a Smart Access column of mine
Dealing with Access Reference Problems
A detailed explanation of what causes the problem (most often characterized by having common functions like CurrentDB, Str$, Mid$, Date$, etc. stop working), and what can be done about it.
Fix your registry
How to fix your registry if you add Access 2.0 after you've added Access 97. (Yes, I know this is kind of out of date, but hopefully the principle will show you how to do it for other situations!)
"The Ten Commandments"
A paraphrase of The Ten Commandments of Access at "The Access Web".
While I agree whole-heartedly with the sentiments, I didn't like the wording, so I've reworked it here.
Using DSN-less Connections
How to create tables linked to ODBC data sources without requiring a DSN.
Access Answer columns
My monthly Access Answer columns (almost three years worth!) from the Smart Access newsletter.
Access Advisor articles
Sorry: Advisor seems to have taken down the website, so I can no longer point you to articles I wrote for Advisor Media. I'll try and get copies up there once I've worked out the copyright details!
Database Journal articles
Articles I've written for Database Journal.

As well, here are some ancient sample databases I've created (MS Access 2.0, under Windows 3.1, although I have tested most of my code running 2.0 under Win'95) These files are the .MDB zipped up. I've tried to put sufficient comments in the code, but I know I haven't always succeeded!

List Fonts (24,830 bytes)
Work with Novell 3.x (22,854 bytes)


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Last Updated: 30th May, 2019