Someone asked me about using the Attachment data type in Access 2007 for a specific task. They wanted to use it as a simple data type where it would only be used to hold 1 file per record, and they wanted to be able to open the file in an external application using a button on a form instead of using the Attachment control on a form. Given these constraints, I was created a simple VBA function for doing just that: Public Function OpenFirstAttachmentAsTempFile(ByRef rstCurrent As DAO.Recordset, ByVal...

There was a question on our post about getting Access to recognize tables as specific WSS table templates around what else you need to do to get the new Add From Outlook feature to work on a custom contacts table. This feature uses the same mechanism to determine that a table is a contact table, but more than that it needs to know how to map fields in your table to those in the Outlook contact store. There are a bunch of fields, so easier than building this out yourself, here's a quick snippet of...

One of the coolest new features in Access 2007 is the new Attachments data type. There are some very helpful dialogs for working with this data type, but there are also some useful additions to DAO to make automating the process of adding and saving attachments easy, too. What follows is some VBA code I've written that I hope you will find useful in understanding how do to this. First, let's look at the code to get a file into a table using DAO: The AddAttachment sub takes a reference to a DAO.Recordset...

Great news, you can now redistribute and use the PDF and XPS addin with your Runtime solution. Our download page has been updated to reflect this fact. Best of all, you don't need a new copy of the runtime to take advantage of this. The Runtime's code has not been changed. Your existing runtime solutions can now officially be distributed with the PDF and XPS addin by chaining the .msi for PDF and XPS into your install process for your app (after the Runtime).

I can't resist doing a quick post to let you all know about the new report demo that just got published to OfficeOnline. This is a quick little video, just a few minutes long, which gives a great overview of some of our new reporting features in 2007. Big thanks to my engineers, Steve Lesser, Abigail Short, and Nishant Kumar for helping me to make these features a reality!

Despite my passion for all things related to code, I've always had a soft spot for UI that is exciting both in its "coolness" factor and visual appeal. Along those lines, one of my favorite new features in Access 2007 is Ribbon Extensibility . Writing the XML for a customization can be a bit of a bear, so here is a tip for making this easier. Before getting started with creating your own customizations, there are a few things you should have: customUI.xsd schema for Ribbon extensibility Visual Studio...

The semi-annual Access Advisor conference is running September 30 - October 4 in Miami. This is always a well run event, and a great place to meet with fellow members of the Access community. Having recently gone to the spring conference, and with us all very heads down on Office14, the Access team isn't going to be able to make it to this event, but I've found the speakers to be generally very knowledgeable and the session content is great.

I learned a new trick today from Michael the PM for the navigation pane. We have heard a few of you have missed the ALT D shortcut to open an object in design. As you know, ALT in ribbon apps now allows you to access ribbon shortcuts. Next time you want to open an object in design view, try Control Enter . On a related note, a while back Russell Sinclair posted the following comment to my blog about the nav pane: The default setup when you open a new database or a database that hasn't been opened...

There was an interesting question in one of the other posts that I thought I'd answer here to reach the broader audience: Doug said : If I export Northwind 2007 to WSS 3.0, the tables, like Customer, that contain 'Contact' type information get exported to an WSS 'Contact' content type. Very cool! Now you can view them in Outlook as a contact list. However, if I craft a table from hand with the exact same name, and the exact same fields, and export it, it is exported as a 'Custom' content type and...

Thanks to Jeff Conrad on the Access test team for this: Office Online now has published four articles with material pulled from the Microsoft Office Access 2007 Inside Out book. This enormous book, published by Microsoft Press, is co-authored by Access MVP John L. Viescas and recent Microsoft hire Jeff Conrad. You can find these new articles at the following links: Exploring a desktop Access 2007 database: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/HA102326851033.aspx Create an Access 2007 database...