Access has a VBA programming environment just like all the other Office
applications. You can get to it by hitting cntr-g, or by hitting alt+F11, or
by creating an event on a form control and clicking the little "..." button
next to it in the properties window, or an of a number of other ways. You
can write individual modules that have reusable functions in them, or you
can write code behind specific form events such as button clicks or field
changes or any of a large number of others. However, with all that in mind,
there are a LOT of things you can do in Access without coding a single line.
If you are able to meet your needs using the functionality that Access gives
you without resorting to code, do so. That's what Access is for. Use code
only if you need to do some kind of custom action that you just can't seem
to do anywhere else in Access. Some of us that make our livings coding
resort to code too quickly when it would have been much simpler to have just
used built-in functionality.
If you want resources on coding VBA / Access there are a number of books out
there on the subject including some that specialize on Access, and there is
also the Microsoft Visual Basic help system (it is adequate as a reference
for some things, poor in other places, and not great to get you started if
this is your first trip into coding). There is also always an online search
as well, although if you are really going to learn how to become an Access
power user with code and everything, you should learn how to do it right and
not just copy/paste code from others that you really don't understand (a lot
of people get themselves tied into all kinds of bad knots doing that). It
probably won't do you a ton of good to delve into code before you have a
good solid understanding of Access itself. Learn how to make forms with the
various kinds of controls, reports, queries, learn a little SQL, THEN try
VBA coding. The VBA code won't make much sense unless you know the other
things, and it may just confuse you further in that case.
If you have any specific questions, just let us know.
--
Bryan Reich
Microsoft Office
--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
Use of any included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm
rawley said:
Our business recently obtained Access for the sole purpose of implementing
a couple of large databases (for maintaining freight info, etc.). Through
people's help, I've managed to build the tables, queries, and forms (I'm
working on reports now). One thing that I keep seeing on this listing is
questions about programming. I was wondering where it gets used in the
program, and where you can learn how to do it at. I had to have some help
figuring out how to setup a table to do a pulldown list, and if not for the
people in here, I never would've known how to do any of that even, and I
know that Access can be much more complicated. If anyone else has had these
thoughts and issues has any good suggestions where you can figure out how to
learn to do some of this stuff, please let me know.
