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You'll many times want to change blocks of code to comments in VBA modules; temporarily convert a block of VBA code to comments so that it's ignored during a trial run. Inserting an apostrophe before each line of code is a bother. Office 2000+ simplifies this task by letting you convert a block of code to comments with a click of a button.

Open any module in the Visual Basic Editor (VBE), and then choose View>Toolbars and choose Edit from the menu bar to display the Edit toolbar.

Select the lines of code that you want to turn into comments. Then, click the Comment Block button on the Edit toolbar (it's the sixth button in from the RIGHT end of the toolbar).
Each line of the selected code is now preceded with an apostrophe.

To convert the comments back to executable code, select the appropriate lines and click the Uncomment Block button, which is immediately to the right of the Comment Block button.
This, of course, works in any application that uses the VBE.

It's been suggested that two or three apostrophes (sometimes called inverted commas) be placed around existing comments. When the Comment Block is used, the original comments will not be removed.

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Labels: VBA

When to use one or the other

Use Access when you:

• Require a relational database (multiple tables) to store your data.
  
  
• Might need to add more tables, in the future, to an originally flat or nonrelational data set.
  
  
• Keep a very large amount of data (thousands of entries).
  
  
• Keep data that is mostly text.
  
  
• Rely on multiple external databases to derive and analyze the data that you need.
  
  
• Need to maintain constant connectivity to a large external database, such as one built by using Microsoft SQL Server.
  
  
• Want to run complex queries.
  
  
• Need many people working in the database and you want robust options that expose that data for updating.

Use Excel when you:

• Require a flat or nonrelational view of your data (that is, you do not need a relational database with multiple tables).
  
  
• This is especially true if that data is mostly numeric - for example, if you want to maintain a financial budget for a given year.
  
  
• Want to run primarily calculations and statistical comparisons on your data - for example, if you want to show a cost/benefit analysis in your company's budget.
  
  

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Labels: General

History

A history of Microsoft Access, including key features and milestones from the release of Access 1.0 to Access 2010.

20 years of Access

Also:

Old Access Versions

In Access 1.0, if you found the "Easter egg" list of developers, at the very end there was a pond with two birds floating around.

A large foot then comes down and crushes the pair of ducks. (Paradox was Microsoft's rival at the time.)
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Labels: General

Hidden code

If you're having trouble figuring out a complex SQL statement for use in code, you may be able to simplify the process by first setting it up the query you want in the query design grid.

Once you've got it configured correctly, choose View >SQL view to reveal the underlying SQL statement, which you can copy and paste into your code.

You may have to make minor modifications, but this technique often eliminates much of the hassle of manually constructing SQL statements.

You can also tweak the underlying SQL code to adjust your Query. This code can also be copied and reused in other Queries after a little customizing.


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Labels: Functions, General, Macros, Queries, SQL, Tips

More than one at a time

When you preview an Access report, you may want to see several pages at one time to examine the layout of the report.

You may know that you can do so by choosing View >Pages from the menu bar. However, this technique limits how you view the pages -- you can only view 1, 2, 4, 8, or 12 at a time.

For more control over how the pages are displayed, right-click on the report preview itself, and choose Multiple Pages from the shortcut menu.

The default layout grid is 2 x 3 pages. However, if you click and drag with your mouse, you can select a range of up to 4 x 5 pages.


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Labels: General, Reports, Shortcuts, Tips