Overview of Access 12

I've had a series of posts talking about the guts of Access 12, but haven't really talked about the gestalt of the product yet.  It’s time to fix that. 

There are 3 key goals for Access 12.  First, dramatically expand the number of people who are successful using Access by making it much easier to build databases from scratch and by including a range ready to go solutions in the box that can be used as they are or modified as required.  Second, make existing Access developers more efficient by improving the design tools without losing any of the power that Access provides today.  Third, enable a whole new class of collaborative database applications around Windows SharePoint Services. 

New User Experience

Access 12 has a completely new user interface than any previous version.  It uses the new Office “ribbon” UI to surface commands, but most of the other UI has changed as well.  Even the “getting started” experience is completely different:

In the image above, you can see:

• Tracking Applications – Access 12 will ship with a range of well-designed database applications that can be used out of the box.  The user need not customize anything to get going, but of course everything is customizable.  These apps are simpler than our current templates, allowing more users to customize them successfully.  In addition, they’re compatible with SharePoint, so users who want to build collaborative apps on SharePoint with them can do so easily.
• Start from Blank - users no longer need to define their table schema before they start entering data.  They can simply start typing into a datasheet and Access will select appropriate data types.  Or they can paste an entire range in from Excel and Access will create the required columns.

In the image above, you can see:

• Office Ribbon UI - the new ribbon replaces the command bars and is more context sensitive.  This works great for Access, because we’ve always switched UI as the user moves between object types.  You can read more about the new ribbon at Jensen Harris' blog.
• Single document interface (SDI) - new forms and reports are opened in tabs, with simple navigation between them. 
• Navigation pane – new pane is docked on the left and supports new ways of pivoting on your document.  Users can view database contents by object type, tables & views, or through a customized view. 

There are a number of other cool new features not shown above we’ll go into move depth on them in the future.  Some examples include:

• Data collection via email - send an email to co-workers as an InfoPath or HTML form. The person fills out the form and sends it back. The data is automatically updated in the database.
• Import specifications - record all import and export operations into one specification. Use an Outlook task to re-execute the spec (did I mention export to PDF!).
• Help System improvements - we think Access 12 fixes many of the complaints people have had about help.
• Sandbox mode - new mode runs database in sandbox mode. Confusing dialogs are replaced by less obtrusive Office trust bar.  
• Managed task panes and add-in model - it is now much easier to tie into web services and middle tier objects.

New Authoring Tools

Access 12 has a new set of WYSIWYG authoring tools that speed up form and report authoring.  Authors can see the final format of the report when authoring it, and will find it much faster to get column widths right or appropriate grouping.  Of course the old designers are still available as well for users who wish to work that way.

In the image above, you can see:

• WYSIWYG report authoring – the new form & report authoring tools provide a view of what the result will look like, with data, at design time.  Users no longer have to take a control & region look at their design, or repeatedly switch between design and preview modes to see the results.
• Grouping – the new grouping UI is also available at design time, making it much faster and simpler to get the results you want.
• Create new fields – a new task pane allows users to drag and drop to create new fields in design view.  Users can even select from fields not in the existing query or table, and Access will either do the join automatically or will prompt the user through setting it up.

There is a huge range or other work on Form & Report authoring that we’ll cover in future posts.  Here’s a quick overview:

• Export to PDF - fully integrated with OutputTo and SendObject.
• Report browse mode - reports now support ad-hoc filters, copy/paste, find, events, etc.
• Filtering and sorting - new Autofilter menu makes adhoc filters much easier. Developers will appreciate how much easier it is to create new queries.
• Quick create - one-click operations to create new tables, queries, forms, and reports.
• Improved AutoFormats - some of you might be heart broken that the Access 2.0 themes have finally changed!
• Modern image support - use png, gif, jpg, etc without database bloat and maintain transparency.
• Gridlines in reports - much easier to create reports with vertical gridlines.
• Alternate row color - available everywhere at a store near you.
• Datasheet totals row - great feature when combined with alternate row color.
• Native rich text data - type and control - yep—it breaks across report pages correctly and users don’t have to install an ActiveX control.
• Date picker - available for all date data types.
• Add existing fields - new field list exposes relates tables and other tables. During authoring user is prompted for join information.
• Attachment data-type - stores multiple attachments with a record.
• Append only property for a memo - makes it easy to create a history log of comments for memo fields.
• Control anchoring - controls now support properties that allow them to be anchored in the frame.
• Split form view - new view on a form that displays the datasheet and form in the same view.
• Improved mouse wheel behavior
• Value list dialog - new dialog allows end users to add items to a value list.
• Not in list - new drill-through behavior properties for handling drill through when user types in a value in a combo box that doesn’t exist.
• Macros as properties - embedded macros are stored as properties on a control. Name fix-up now works on this new model.
• Bound image control - bind the image control to a UNC path for linked images.
• Save as query - create new queries via the new filtering and field list. Save those ad-hoc queries as new queries.
• Datasheet is fully MSAA accessible - this will be the most accessible release of Access yet.

Collaborative Database Apps on SharePoint

Office 12 has continued its strong bet on SharePoint, and Access brings the power of a real database the reach of SharePoint.  This enables 2 key things.  First SharePoint provides a great place to put Access data – data can either live in SharePoint lists linked back to the Access UI, or the entire Access file can simply be stored in SharePoint.  In either case, IT can find, manage, and back up the data, and so gains a lot more control over corporate data.  Second, Access applications can now take advantage of the reach and collaborative workflow provided by SharePoint.  SharePoint can even provide a hub to coordinate the power of Access, FrontPage, and InfoPath.

In the image above, you can see:

• Upsize data to SharePoint – Access 12 make it very simple to move the data from local tables to linked-in SharePoint lists.  The Access front-end is then saved to the same site, and when users open the database, a new copy of all the forms & reports is downloaded each time, making front-end deployment much easier. 

In addition, we’ve added the following support for databases on SharePoint:

• SharePoint workflow support – SharePoint provides workflow support using Windows Workflow Services, and Access 12 can use that workflow in its applications.  This enables rich collaborative scenarios such as routing or approval that would have taken vast amounts of code before. 
• Full support for SharePoint schema – in an earlier post I mentioned Access 12’s complex data support.  That support means we have 1:1 mapping for all SharePoint items, making it simple to work with SharePoint data in Access.
• Offline SharePoint lists - take lists offline with one simple step. Conflict UI handles any potential conflicts with the server changes.
• Advertise Access views on SharePoint - access forms and reports can now show up in the SharePoint list of views for a list.
• Site manager for SharePoint - easily link to SharePoint lists. Sites you have visited are remembered for each database.
• Linking to SharePoint - improved performance and better support for linking to SharePoint lists.