Discover how Total Access Emailer can support a table driven system to continuously send emails from your Microsoft Access application. With an instance of Microsoft Access running Total Access Emailer’s programmatic interface, you can automatically send emails from a table. Create a custom email in your application and simply add it as new record to a table. The email is automatically sent without interrupting your application. Read the article for more information on how easy this is to implement.
When creating queries in Access, you may have noticed the query properties “Unique Values” and “Unique Records”. Are you familiar with the difference between these properties?
“Unique Values” and “Unique Records” correspond with the DISTINCT and DISTINCTROW statements (respectively) in the query’s SQL. Although they sometimes provide the same results, there are significant differences in how they work:
DISTINCT checks for unique values only in the fields selected for output, and eliminates duplicate rows. Results are not updatable, since they do not necessarily correspond with a unique record.
DISTINCTROW checks for unique values in all fields in the table that you are querying, not just the fields listed for output. If the table is keyed, the results are updatable, since they correspond with a single record in the underlying data.
Total Access Components 2007 is now shipping with support for Microsoft Access 2000 through 2007. Dazzle your users with amazing enhancements to your forms and reports using 30 custom controls designed exclusively for Access. Check out our product tour with examples of the features. For existing customers, here’s a list of new features. Add animation, popup and icon menus, form resizer and splitter bars, data entry enhancements, custom cursors, simplified use of Windows API calls, and much more! Download the free trial version and see for yourself!
The HotMommas Project and Professor Kathy Korman Frey are featured in a recent Washington Post article. It is about the GWU Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership Class, the Hot Mommas Project (as mentioned previously on our blog), and all the reasons why these educational initiatives exist.
Today, April 13th, 2009, at 12pm EST you can participate in a related online chat at the Washington Post's website. Professor Frey will be there to answer questions and lead the discussion.
Recently, we published an article describing how to Synchronize Two Related Subforms on a Microsoft Access Form. In that article, we mentioned when setting the master link field of a subform, you should always reference the control rather than the field name. We didn't mention why and received some inquiries, so this new article covers when and why that's so important. It includes a database with examples showing how a reference to the field instead of the control could cause users to not realize they're editing the wrong linked records, or adding and deleting records linked to the wrong master value. Read more in the article on why Microsoft Access Subforms Should Reference the Control Rather than Field for Master Link Fields
There are many experienced Microsoft Access developers who continue to resist the migration to Access 2007. While there are some changes that are cumbersome, there are many new features that justify the migration. With Access 2007, you can create applications with features that in many cases would be impossible to provide in prior versions. Here are my Top Features of Microsoft Access 2007 That Aren't Available in Prior Versions.
Over the years, I have had an ongoing discussion about how Microsoft Access best fits in an organization's database strategy. Similar to how some Excel files evolve beyond the capabilities of a spreadsheet and move to Access, some Access applications grow beyond the features of Access. Recently, I was interviewed by Microsoft’s Architect Evangelist Dr. Zhiming Xue on dealing with Access Database based solutions and the challenges of migrating them to SQL Server. Watch the 22 minute video and read more about Migrating Microsoft Access Databases to SQL Server. Let me know what you think.
Our list of all the internal Microsoft Access error numbers and error descriptions now has a database with the descriptions by Access version in a table. Use it as a reference or for your own lookups across Access versions.
One of the most powerful ways to increase productivity is automating the distribution of personalized data to your contacts. Whether they are customers, prospects, or internal people, simplifying communications is a wonderful result of all your efforts collecting and analyzing data. With our Total Access Emailer program, we are helping thousands of people leverage the power of emails and their Microsoft Access data. Easily send HTML emails with references to your data fields to personalize each message. You can even add filtered data from a table or query, or email Microsoft Access reports either as attachments or as your HTML email. Total Access Emailer makes it easy to do on a one time basis or continuously. It runs as an Access add-in with a Wizard interface, and also has a programmatic interface with runtime library to launch emails from VBA code.
Recently, we’ve helped several organizations create Access applications where email was a critical part of the solution. For Harvard College, we developed a system to manage the assignment of interviewers and candidates. An Access database on SQL Server is used by an administrator to match the two parties, then an email sent out to the interviewer. The Interviewer then visits an ASP.NET web site to record whether they accepted or declined the assignment, and upload their results. Reminders are automatically sent if no response is received by a certain time. It’s running hot and heavy now as interviewing season comes to a close for this year’s applicants.
Similarly, we created a solution for a national firm in the customer loyalty business to improve their partners’ communications with the customers they’ve signed up. The main application is a web-based ASP.NET and SQL Server solution, but we decided to build the communications part in Access. This separated it from the transactional load on the web site and simplified its development. The marketing people could design their emails in HTML and use Total Access Emailer to replace the fields in the message with the data downloaded from SQL Server. After tweaking their message, previewing sample emails, and getting it perfect, they could launch the blast on their own. The result was a personalized email to each participant with a custom letterhead with graphics for each affinity partner as if the message came directly from them. We’ve created monthly statements, a campaign for Toys for Tots, and other notifications to drive build a closer relationship between the partners and their customers.
Microsoft’s annual TechEd conference is being held in Los Angeles next week. Microsoft has invited me to participate on a few panels including:
There are many experienced Microsoft Access developers who continue to resist the migration to Access 2007. While there are some changes that are cumbersome, there are many new features that justify the migration. With Access 2007, you can create applications with features that in many cases would be impossible to provide in prior versions. Here are my 