Monday, May 25, 2009

Glenn Lloyd Access MVP Blogs

I have come across two blogs by Access MVP Glenn Lloyd, which offer very useful guidance on MS Office and Access:
  1. Argee's Access Blog A new blog where Glenn is progressively building a sample Access database. This offers budding Access users and developers the opportunity to progressively follow an expert developer build a business application.

  2. Argee's Office Help Blog In this blog, Glenn has since 2007 been posting a series of tips and tricks for Office users. The articles are comprehensive and fully supported with explanatory graphics.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

New Version 1.4 of Ezy SQL Editor and Builder



I have just launched a major upgrade of my Ezy SQL Builder & Editor Add-In for Access 2000/2002/2003/2007. This new version offers a rich extension of functionality, including:
  • Ezy SQL is now available both in the Access Database Window and the Office VBA Editor, so you can easily switch from one environment to the other and shuttle between each environment.

  • The Ezy SQL Editor - Edit SQL and the Ezy SQL String Builder dialogs now work in partnership with the Ezy SQL VBA Plug-In dialog, which is available in any code module and allows you to easily edit a SQL string from a module.

  • The Access SQL Help file is now directly accessible from within the Ezy SQL Builder.
Other features include:
  • Font Name and Font Size Customization
  • Find and Replace functionality
  • SQL Keywords Assistant
  • Parameter Wizard
  • SQL String Parser/Formatter
  • Easy insertion of table and field references
  • Insert formatted SQL Strings into modules or copy to the Clipboard
  • Preview action queries...
Check out the full functionality of Ezy SQL v1.4 here.

Friday, May 22, 2009

How to Build an Access 2007 Ribbon

Access MVP Garry Robinson has posted a useful article on building custom Access 2007 ribbons using the tool IDBE Ribbon Creator tool from http://www.ribboncreator.de/en/.

You should also checkout an article I wrote in December How Custom Access 2007 Ribbons Work.

I will take this opportunity to promote two free tools I have developed for reviewing custom ribbons that you can download from aadconsulting.com:

These tools providing advanced Office 2007 RibbonX review features. Open any Office 2007 Ribbon XML file in the XML File Reviewer to review an Office Ribbon's full menu hierarchy in a tree-view with all control attributes detailed in an adjacent panel.

The Access 2007 USysRibbons Add-In reviews and previews the custom Ribbons in the USysRibbons table of an Access 2007 database. Extensive reference resources are incorporated into the GUI of both products. Both tools require Access 2007.

The Access Ribbon Review in action (click on the image to enlarge):

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Books Online (May 2009)

Download the documentation and tutorials for Microsoft SQL Server 2008.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

SQL Server 2008 Developer Training Kit

The SQL Server 2008 Developer Training Kit from Microsoft will help you understand how to build web applications using the rich data types, programming models and new development paradigms in SQL Server 2008.

Monday, May 11, 2009



Official Office 2010 Blog Launched

Yesterday at TechNet 2009, Microsoft announced that the limited Technical Preview program for Office 2010 will kick off in July. In tandem with this announcement, the Office 2010 Blog has been launched with the stated aim of helping "IT professionals and enthusiasts get a better idea of what we are building with Office 2010 and discuss the key issues that matter to you ".
A tie-in promotional video has also been produced.

A post on the Office 2010 Blog confirms that:
  • Office 2010 will be available in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions
  • Office 2010 will run on Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista, and Windows 7
  • Hardware running Office 2007 will support Office 2010

Monday, May 04, 2009

VB 6 Security Fix

A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to compromise Windows-based systems running Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Service Pack 6. Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Service Pack 6 Cumulative Update ( 10mb 4May09) fixes this issue.