PC Possibilities, Inc.

Tom Satyshur Jr . . . providing PC hardware, software and services since 1987 to the Cleveland Ohio area

MS Access Database Applications

Sample Databases: We have been developing MS Access databases since version 1.1 because MS Access is an application development tool that is easy to use but powerful enough, especially with VBA, to satisfy most small business needs.  We have used MS Access for simple "form and report" databases that only took 2 days to develop and deploy, and for databases as large and complex as the Y2K Test Tracking database for a major telco where all business functions and test cases were defined and tracked by a staff of over 20 simultaneous users. We have included screen print samples of some databases for your review.

Baptism Records PDF D/L Size = 1.9 Mb  This application was completed in just 16.5 hours over less than a week.

Shop Orders PDF D/L Size = 2.9 Mb  This more robust application took 200 hours over a 4 month period for the first version, then 85 hours over 7 months for corrections and enhancements, then 140 hours over an additional 6 months for a subsequent version.

Note: you must have Adobe Acrobat Reader to view these Sample Database screen print documents.

Sample VBA: As an example of the VBA we develop, you are welcome to freely download and use a module of code we call ReAttach. As most MS Access application developers know, MS Access applications usually consist of two MDB files: one for the programming and one for the data.  This permits changes to the forms, reports, macros, and modules (the programming side) without impacting the usage of the database by Users (unless, of course, there are changes to the data definitions).  Our standard is to name the data MDB the same name as the program MDB but with "Data" attached.  For example, if I have an application "Shop Orders", the programming is in ShopOrders.mdb and the data is in ShopOrdersData.mdb  The problem with MS Access is that it will not "relink" or "reattach" the tables from the programming MDB to the data MDB in a simple automatic manner when you move the two MDB files from one folder to another folder.  "ReAttach" will do this.

ReAttach will check for linked tables, check the path of the program's MDB, and either verify that the path is the same as the data's MDB or loop through the linked tables relinking them to the same path as the program's MDB.  The result is that as long as you move the two MDBs to the same folder (subdirectory), the AutoExec macro and ReAttach VBA module will always, automatically, reattach the program's MDB to the linked tables in the data's MDB, displaying a dialog box message whenever it does a ReAttach.

Click on the link below to download a complete working demo of the ReAttach VBA code. This sample contains two MDB files in one self-extracting ZIP file. Download the file then double-click on it to extract the two MDB files. Note: this sample is in MS Access 2000 and will only work on Access 2000 and Access XP!

Sample ReAttach MDBs - Free Software  D/L Size = 261 Kb

If you encounter the error "User-defined Type Not Defined" when you run this Sample ReAttach

 then see Microsoft Knowledge Base article 202192.

Send mail to webmaster@pcpossibilities.com with questions or comments about this web site. Microsoft Access and VBA © Microsoft Corporation. All contents of this web site © 2003 PC Possibilities, Inc.  Last modified: November 21, 2003.