[RndTbl] Access Annoyances Needed for New Book (fwd)

-- Gilbert E. Detillieux E-mail: gedetil@cs.umanitoba.ca Dept. of Computer Science Web: http://www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~gedetil/ University of Manitoba Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg, MB, CANADA R3T 2N2 Fax: (204)474-7609 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: marsee@oreilly.com To: gedetil@muug.mb.ca Subject: Access Annoyances Needed for New Book Date: Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:52:33 -0700 Dear User Group Leader: O'Reilly is pulling together a new book called "Microsoft Access Annoyances" and, once again, we'd like your help! As you might guess, "Access Annoyances" ponders the problems, snarls, quirks, bugs, and just dumb things about Access that drive users nuts. The annoyances will encompass a range of topics: the Access interface, entering data, queries, reporting hassles, VBA, moving data to and from Excel and SQL databases, data tables, expressions, macros, deployment, security--well, you get the idea. If any members of your group use Access--be they newbies or Access masters--and they have annoyances they'd like to see solved, have them email marsee@oreilly.com with "Access Annoyances" in the subject line. Just have them note what version of Access and Windows they're using. As always, thanks for sharing. We'll make sure to get copies of "Access Annoyances" sent to your group shortly after publication. --Marsee *** An example: Long Lines In Small Places THE ANNOYANCE: I'm trying to type a long expression into a tiny text box, which is about as much fun as trying to watch a movie with a couple of basketball players seated in front of you. How the heck do you keep track of what you're typing when you can only see two or three words at a time? THE FIX: One of Access' handier features is the zoom box. Hit <Shift F2>, and Access opens a big, empty text area for editing a long line of text. You can use this trick just about anywhere you see a text box: in the query design grid, in property sheets, in a table design window or datasheet. For that matter, your users can benefit from this trick, too--it works on form fields as well. Highly recommended. [TIP: You'll notice that the zoom box closes when you hit <Enter>. If for some reason, you absolutely need a line break in what you're typing, use <Ctrl-Enter> instead.] ***