Access2010

[mdmilner]

I've been slacking off on paying attention and researching how well the latest version of Office works with older copies and files. I'm about to get a W7 machine and O2010 and wanted hints on things I should pay attention to. I can likely get A2003 added to the machine if it's really necessary, for example.

Is there anything from the update to W7 (missing libraries that I need to manually add) or Office where it doesn't play well with older files (access, excel or outlook)?

Mike

 

[xenou]

I think Access 2010 is fairly seamless although the presentation is a bit different. I found it more familiar by setting Document windows options to overlapping windows (rather than tabbed documents) - I'm still not used to tabs and it's been two years. Also the Database Window is gone and now is replaced by a "Navigation Pane". I'm not quite used to that either yet myself ... {sigh}. I really had no complaints with 2003 and still to me it's more than enough DB (personally I'd rather see improvements in the DB engine such as query optimization rather than in the way Access looks - though it appears that some improvements are meant to support exchanges with other MS products. As far as the Ribbon, well ... that's also a change to Office as a whole, so I guess you can't stop progress. It's getting better too).

If you use a 2003 file format (mdb) you can open your databases in XL 2003 or XL 2010. If you use a 2010 file format (accdb) you can't open the DB in an older Access application (I don't believe, anyway - someone correct me if I am wrong).

If you are connecting to the DB in code with a 2010 file format be sure to use the ACE provider rather than the JET provider - ACE can handle the newer file format but is otherwise mostly going to be the what you are used to with DAO.

I also noticed that dates have a date picker by default when I started using Access 2007/2010 and only recently discovered this is an option you can turn on or off.

Other comments are welcome ... On the whole I'd say just jump in. Windows 7 is something you'll probably need to get into sooner or later also (I'm still an XP man but that can't last more than another year or two and I'm starting to feel a bit old fashioned. Then again, I've heard there are some users of Excel 2000 still around, and I think there's still three people using Windows 95).

 

[HiTechCoach]

About Windows 7: I have never had any issue with it. It is soooooo much better than XP. When I have to use XP I feel like I am almost back to Windows 3.1. I urge everyone to upgrade to Windows 7 Pro 64 bit or higher. There is absolutle no rason not too since it has XP mode (Free with Pro or higher).

About Access 2010. Wait till the SP1 update is release in late June 2011. Not to far away. Access 2010 is still very buggy without SP1.

You might also want to see these Access 2010 Links (Click Here)

 

[HiTechCoach]

I forgot to add is you are making MDEs in Access 2003 than you will still need to have Access 2003 installed. I would install Office/Access 2003 on the Windows 7 machine in XP mode. This will be especially helpful if other machine in the office still run XP as the OS. This will allow you to make the MDE that will work in XP and Windows 7. Only install Office 2010 on the primary Windows 7 OS. This avoids all the issue with Access version installed side-by-side.

 

[SydneyGeek]

I'll second the Win7 comments. No contest, it's the best desktop OS to come out of Redmond.
Watch out for backwards compatibility issues with Access 2010. Files in the new .accdb format will not always be compatible with 2007, and fixing the problem is a pain. Hopefully SP1 will sort it. For the moment my preferred Access version is 2007. For the rest of Office it's 2010.

As for earlier versions of Access, I have been able to convert Access 2010 files to .mdb and run them in Access 2003 without problems... as long as none of the new features are used.

Denis

 

[mdmilner]

Thanks. Those are exactly the kind of answers and comments I was looking for.

Ok, so if I'm following things...working across object models (like to excel while inside an Access module) works just fine...the references aren't changed. It's just the internal to Access references are.

Is it a straight swap with identical syntax? ie, DAO --> ACE? (or whatever the syntax is). I mean, could I actually just do a find & replace and swap the text?

Links are good, thanks.

 

[SydneyGeek]

Pretty well. You will need to change the Provider in ADO.

From Excel to Access, Provider changes from Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0 to Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0

Referencing DAO, you would use the Microsoft Office xx.x Access Database Engine

Other than those changes I have not come across any major syntax issues. But watch out if you go 64-bit. The dlls and API calls change; very few users have actually gone to (and stayed with) 64-bit Office. Generally they just don't need the capacity, and the compatibility issues start to pile up.

Denis

 

[mdmilner]

I've never used it but I did a lot of reading years ago on XP-64bit. I'm at a big company and while I haven't asked that question, I'd guess the 64b version probably was ignored as unnecessary and likely a complication rather than a benefit.

By the answers, it sounds pretty seamless. Existing deployed application should continue working as-is. New material only needs different referencing. Sounds pretty easy.

When I first read some of the above, I was thinking I might have to adapt my code to be a little more abstract/object oriented so it could do things like adapt to using both types of "connections" (poor term) simultaneously. Reads like totally unnecessary.

For me, I've had some glimpses of the O2010 environment through a citrix based environment but I'm still struggling with the ribbon and where stuff is. Slowly I'm coming around as user.

 

[mdmilner]

Interesting. My first experiences with A2010 started at 2PM yesterday. After the initial shock of also being upgraded from XP to W7 (yeah, I'd been holding out, big time) -- I'm really starting to appreciate some of the A2010 features.

I'm sure I'll find about a million things later, but one of my early favorites is the Tables & Related View. I've got this active report writing database that I load tables into and then have many queries that hinge off the same tables.

These days, it's a *lot* of distinct tables and a *lot more* queries and many of those include pieces from different tables or other queries. Being able to see, at a glance, what's related simplifies things.

I mean, it's not like there aren't other ways to get the info...it's just neat at-a-glance.

 

[HiTechCoach]

I would also make sure to install the Office 2010 SP1 update. It does fix some really big issues.