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Others have covered the nitty gritty very well above, so I shall just add my voice to the list of developers who are asking you to give us back the db window. The Nav Pane is truly the most counter-productive 'enhancement' that 2007 gave us. I have databases with 80+ tables, hundreds of queries, a multitude of forms etc. Scrolling up and down is a right royal PITA which I could really do without. I have yet to meet a single experienced developer (note: not power user) who prefers the navpane to the db window. all the Access devs I know are agreed on this. Also, why on earth can't we have the choice as developers as to whether to have to use the Ribbon or menus. This is something that I still cannot fathom. Were you to reinstate Menus and the DB window as an option (you can leave the ribbon and navpane as the default), then that alone would convince me to pony up for the cost of such a new version. At the moment I am staying with 2003 with 2007 where necessary. There's plenty to love in Access 2007/2010. But these two things.... I am not a fan. In case you can't tell! ;-)

- NUMBER ONE ! Bring back the Database Window!

PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE - 'Copy with code' When coping a control - Treeview Wizard - Dbl click Rename object (Lost with the Nav Pain) - Multiple diagrams like SQL Server - New and improved MSGraph Make it look modern, Clik Drill Down, MSGraph has not changed since Office 95! Come on people! - Buy SpeedFerret, Update it and sell it as an Add On - Color code SQL Code - Add Runtime Link Test/Relinker. There are many that people have developed, But this should be built in. There is so many more but that is all that comes to mind right now

My #1 request would be make the error warnings in the VBA editor display more like visual studio. The annoying pop up message drives me crazy as 99 times out of 100 I've not made an error in the code.... I've just not finished typing it and I want to scroll up and copy and paste a variable name. I like being told but I think it would be better if it was less obtrusive (i.e. exactly like visual studio) Danny Seager

MS Access MVP

Danny - Are you talking about error with syntaxes? If so, you can turn off "Auto Syntax Check" in the options and it won't annoy you with that error messages, but you still get the red highlighting of the bad line. But I agree- that popup is totally unnecessary and redundant since well, there's _red_ highlighting!

Neha -- hope you don't mind me answering this here... @grovelli "Can you provide an example of the routine that does that?" Sure, I'd be happy to "Since the user simply pastes the number and the routine takes care of the rest, why should he/she be concerned whether it follows the mask?" In case they want all phone numbers to follow the same format. For instance, sometimes it may be 123-456-7890, sometimes (123) 456-7890, or something else. Remember, if what they are pasting is anything but numbers, the InputMask won't allow it. This is why the popup date pickers fail. In the US, phone number format is standardized. Therefore, I store InputMask in the countries table (checkout the Reference database on my website -- my name is a hyperlink -- not sure the InputMask is there but a table with all the country codes is). I add this field: phoMask, text for the US and Canada, I store this: !\(999"") ""000\-0000;0;_ In code, I keep track of what country the information is being added for. In this example, Ctry is a combo storing the standard 2-character country code. It is pre-populated with a value that can be changed or deleted. '~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Private Sub Ctry_AfterUpdate() If IsNull(Me.ActiveControl) Then Set_Property "DefaultPhoneInputMask", " " Else If Len(Trim(Nz(Me.Ctry.Column(2), ""))) > 0 Then Set_Property "DefaultPhoneInputMask", Me.Ctry.Column(2) End If Set_Property "DefaultCtry", Me.Ctry End If

End Sub

'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The use of this might be:

Me.ControlName.InputMask = Get_Property("DefaultPhoneInputMask") Basic code for handling custom properties is posted here on UtterAccess: Public Variables - Summary for using Database Properties www.utteraccess.com/.../showflat.php I have since updated this code and have a whole module you can download here: groups.yahoo.com/.../MS_Access_Professionals under Files > Crystal > bas_xl_Properties_080818_1213_.zip you have to be a member to download it, but it is free to join and is a really good group run by Bill Mosca :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ here is code to return a string containing only numbers from any given string: '~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Function StripPhoneNonNumeric(pPhone As String) As String

'8-6-08 Dim mPhone As String _ , i As Integer _ , mChar As String * 1 'loop through number and only keep numeric characters For i = 1 To Len(pPhone) mChar = Mid(pPhone, i, 1) If IsNumeric(mChar) Then mPhone = mPhone & mChar End If Next i StripPhoneNonNumeric = mPhone

End Function

'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I also use StripPhoneNonNumeric when searching -- for the first column that "shows" in a combo to pick phone number so the user can ignore mask characters when typing. The width of the column would be any number greater than 0 that is really small so a human can't really see it. The next columns show the phone number as it is stored in the table, with the mask symbols. In this case, I have a variable combo that changes depending on what type of search someone wants to do. Here is the code I use to set this combo for finding a person by phone number (People are in one table, Phone numbers in another) s = "SELECT P.PID" _

& ", StripPhoneNonNumeric([Phone]) AS pho " _

& ", pho.Phone" _

& ", [Name1] & (', '+[Name2]) & (' ' & [NamMid]) AS [FullName]" _

& ", pho.PhoneID " _

& ", IIf([p].[IsActive],'A','') as Active" _

& ", p.pCode " _

& " FROM (t_PEOPLE AS P " _

& " INNER JOIN t_Phone AS pho ON P.PID=pho.PID) " _

& IIf(Nz(Me.filterTID, -1) = -1, Null, " INNER JOIN " & mTblname _

& " ON P.PID = " & mTblname & "." & mFld_PID) _

& " ORDER BY pho.Phone, P.Name1, P.Name2;" Me.FindVariable.ColumnWidths = "0;0.0098 in;1.2 in;2.5 in; 0;0.5 in; 1 in"

Me.FindVariable.ListWidth = 5.4 * 1440 '~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If the user wants to paste a number and have it follow the mask, this example uses a control called PhonePaste to trigger an InputBox for pasting into -- could have put it on my form but was running low on space. '~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Private Sub PhonePaste_GotFocus()

'8-6-08, 8-25 On Error GoTo Proc_Err Dim mAns As String _ , mMask As String mAns = InputBox("Paste Phone Number:", "Paste Phone Number") If Len(Trim(mAns)) = 0 Then GoTo Proc_Exit End If Me.Phone.InputMask = GetPhoneInputMask() If mMask = "" Then Me.Phone = mAns Else Me.Phone = StripPhoneNonNumeric(mAns) End If Proc_Exit: Me.Phone.SetFocus Exit Sub Proc_Err: MsgBox Err.Description, , _ "ERROR " & Err.Number _ & " PhonePaste_GotFocus" Resume Proc_Exit Resume

End Sub

'~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ the logic for GetPhoneInputMask() is similar to that of Ctry_AfterUpdate. It returns the desired mask or an empty string hope this gives you what you need Warm Regards,

Crystal * (: have an awesome day :) *

One of the features i've been wishing for is a zoom option in design mode. I find my self wanting to zoom in on certain sections of the forms and reports when developing. I love the new functionality for setting form parameters in the query criteria look like dot net functionality. The treeview, listview and other activex controls have a lot to offer but little explanation. I've been using the same treeview code for years now. This should be built in wizard functionality. The layout button is a dragon. I'm used to switch beteen two buttons when designing forms. Now when you create a form it defaults to layout view. Try switching the layout view button with the design view button. A few pointers what to do when you have broken references would be nice. Now all you get is a message stating that a certain library is missing... Explanation of how to use passthrough queries would be nice (wizard?) For my final comment i'm going to be cynical; during beta testing a lot of testing is done and a lot of tips are being provided. Some issues are still there and during the beta of 2007 you here often maybe for the next release. If in the next release the functionality hasn't been fixed one would hope that all those ideas were preserved somewhere... Maurice

I use Access 2003. 1) Export reports as .DOC (or .DOCX) rather than .RTF.

Currently, Access exports the report as a .RTF and then imports the .RTF into Word. This means that you can't export any objects (i.e. images and lines). 2) AutoSize text to fit in the textbox. Allow the user to set a minimum font size and a maximum font size. Then however much text is added, it will be resized so that the user can see it all. 3) Add a type ahead combo box to fine objects in the DB Window (2003) or in the object browser(?) of 2007/2010. 4) Add a Parameter Builder Wizard for Reports. Allow me to choose which parameters the report should allow the user to sort or limit by. Then have it build the pop-up box that the user would interact with. 5) Include with Access a LAN based sharepoint server that Access can use to test or run a web database.

Reason: I want to build a single program that a client could shift from Online to Offline and then back to Online. Thanks -Brandon

is any body help me how to eliminate/remove or not seen the ms access window after compiled the program? I used to hide them using the acCmdAppMinimize but it doesn't my report will not work. Thanks...

QATs

Menus vs Ribbon

Macro Designer - Collapsed format

Magnifier

~~~ Hi Neha, here are a few notes I made while I was working yesterday: ~~~~~~~~ QATs Let us put the QAT anywhere we want ...let us float it and change the icon size, let us make little QAT's and give them names ... and define their behavior ... in other words ... we want toolbars back. The first thing I would do is make a QAT just for the controls and dock it along the left side of my workspace while I am designing forms and reports. The relative position of the tool to use would always be the same ... no changing a ribbon or dropping a list. With toolbars, we could make the icons big until we got a good picture of them in our mind ... did you ever do useability studies to find out how many people kept the icons big? The smallness of them -- and the ability to put them anywhere ... it was like being able to run freely. There is no way the ribbon can ever top the efficiency we had with toolbars -- it was perfect. ~~~~~~~ Menus vs Ribbon Recognition is faster from top to bottom. Top-Bottom is what was so good about the menus. With the ribbon, we are forced to look left-to-right, which is like reading a run-on sentence. A comprehension study that was done found that a ragged right margin, as opposed to a justified margin, resulted in much higher comprehension. With a vertical menu, the ragged margins gave us fast recognition. With the horizontal menu, it is harder to find your place. ~~~~~~~ Macro Designer [ Feature Request: Type in Collapsed format in the Macro Designer ] I would prefer to type Macros in Collapsed format. As a developer, it makes much better sense to have all the parameters on the same line with the command -- and that is definitely what we are used to. [ Feature Request: when typing in the macro designer and SPACEBAR is pressed after the keyword, please invoke the intellisense and change the case to MixedCase when word is recognized ] Spacebar is easier and quicker than pressing TAB -- that is why I choose to type the whole word if it is short instead of picking from intellisense -- and my vertical focus does not have to jump to see when the list item I want is there. If I do not already know exactly what I need, then I pick. I want to type IF. I want the type THEN. If I do this, I want the macro designer to understand. I want ENTER to get me to the next line. Currently, I have to press TAB twice after typing a condition for IF to get to the next line. The first TAB goes to the Builder. I will never favor clicking-n-picking over typing. Developers will be much happier using macros if how we work efficiently is taken into account. ~~~~~~~ Magnifier Not too many people, after stumbling on the magnifier the first time, remember that it is in the Report Print Preview because there are so many logical places for it to be. It would be so nice if this feature would be available for all views of forms and reports ... and then ... all objects. The Magnifier is a great feature Thanks, Neha ;) Warm Regards,

Crystal * (: have an awesome day :) *

One more thought regarding the ribbon. Have you asked the Visual Studio team and SQL Server Management Studio team if they have any plans to introduce ribbon to their products? This is a rhetorical question so no need to answer this here, but if the answer to that question is 'no', then maybe we should be really asking if Access really benefits from ribbon or should be treated like any other development product, and possibly the more broad question of whether the ribbon was the solution we needed for the cluttered menu problem of Office 2003.

SQL View for queries - A simple find and replace would save heaps of time. The same functionality as in SQL - eg formatting would be heaven.

This is more a general Office thing - Working with Ribbons (and it was the same with Menus), when you click on the ribbon to open a drop down list eg in form design - Arrange>Size/Space it would be great if you could hold down the shift key so that you could make multiple selections eg Size To Widest and Size to Shortest without having to reopen the dropdown list. Same deal if you have the Ribbon Minimized. Holding the shift key would keep the Ribbon Open while you made multiple selections. This is the way things used to work on my old Amiga (showing my age) and it was so much faster.

Let us save the Performance Analyzer's recommendations. Please give us the option to save the recommendations of the Performance Analyzer similarly to the way we can save the Database Documenter information. I find the Performance Analyzer to be very helpful in pointing out some important things that may have been overlooked in the development process. However, I prefer to make those changes myself so I know exactly what changes have been made. But I have no way to save the Performance Analyzer's recommendations unless I save them as screenshots, which is quite inefficient especially since the recommendations window is so small. I cannot express how much better it makes me feel about the future of Access when I see the efforts Microsoft is putting into improving Access. I am also very grateful that you are giving us the opportunity to make recommendations to help make Access better.

I use Access adp/ade and SQL server In 2007 despite reporting problems still no fixes. If you hide the navigation pane and then run a Transfer Spreadsheet VBA command the Navigation pane reappears. I do not want my users to get access to it. I use that to import excel data. Never fixed in 2 years. I end up running a timer event to keep hiding it, not a good fix. Crashes:- Try having a function with a CancelEvent instruction and then put it in the On-No-Data event of a Report. Put another function in the Report On Close event. The minute you have NO Data Access will crash. No fix for that either and its been known for years. So if 2010 is on its way please fix these

Ted Combes:

Unfortunatelly, there have been no fixes for several years. Access developer team simply ignores known bugs.