Microsoft Access Tip: Introducing Microsoft Access 2010

Now that the public Beta of Access 2010 has been around for a few months, we hope that you committed Access users have had the chance to download it, or at least review some of the many videos and articles about the new features.

This new version focuses on making Access even more accessible to non-developers by exposing more functionality without requiring code or queries. For example, Reports are much richer, with added calculation tools and the ability to combine data from multiple sources. Microsoft has also created a whole new set of Templates to get users started more quickly.

There are some big changes for Developers too, however. The most important changes have been added to allow Access applications to run as SharePoint Web databases.

While VBA code cannot run on a SharePoint web site, Macros can. To support this, the Macro designer has been significantly enhanced. It now includes additional features that were formerly only available in VBA code, such as nested IF/Else/Else If statements, error handling, Intellisense, and more. Macros can also be stored in a Macro Library for reuse. In addition, Access 2010 adds Data Macros to attach logic directly to your data, centralizing the logic on the source tables. For the first time, you can define table triggers so that when a value changes in a table, updates to other tables occur. This feature is available whether the Access database is stored on the network or in the new SharePoint host.