Microsoft Access 2010 Released

June 15th, 2010 Is The Official Rollout

Access 2010 Boasts New Features

Here's a quick list of the of latest features for Access 2010 . . .

• Web databases
• Data macros
• Calculated columns
• Macro designer
• Improved layouts
• Themes
• Intellisense
• New navigation model
• Business Connectivity Services ( BCS )
• Backstage
• 64 bit options

Fast Track Access 2010 Development

Access 2010 ships with several new built-in templates and, for the first time, is now accepting user sample templates for distribution. The templates are extremely well done; they are, however, examples and not full out of box business solutions. The new Application Parts feature allows you to literally bolt features into your database. A sharp new feature that will make color editing quick and easy is the variety of theme colors; directly available from the ribbon.

Use the Themes templates to change colors

The Access Ribbon Has A New Look

The Ribbon has been improved specifically to make commands more Accessible with improved ability to create custom tabs or built in tabs. The ribbon, along with the entire theme for Access is part of the Office suite, so you can change the background, however, this feature is limited to three layout color combinations. One major improvement is the new Backstage view. Click on the File tab on the upper left of the ribbon and you open the Backstage view for managing your database. The various save, save as and option features reside here.

This Backstage layout addition is a replacement for the previous File menu and is used by the entire Office application suite. When first reviewed at Access 2010 Technical Beta Release this new feature looked slightly different but is a nice upgrade. The Backstage View has a wealth of uses, including checking for web compatibility, compact and repair your database, database analysis, opening the table relationships view and publishing your database.

Macro Designer

With the new look Macro Designer has much more muscle and now has the capacity to use program logic similar to VBA. The Macro Designer is vital to developing necessary functions that can accompany a database when published to SharePoint. VBA code does not upload and will be lost, so the new macro development area in the Macro Designer is now the tool for uploadable code.

Start a Macro from the MS Access Ribbon

Example of Macro Designer code

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Access 2010 Connects To SharePoint

Web Services and Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Business Connectivity Services put MS Access squarely into the cloud environment with direct connectivity. With Access 2010 you can connect to data sources through the new Web Service protocol.2

Connect and publish to SharePoint

The import and link features are strongly supported so you can work with external sources such as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Outlook, and other non-Microsoft databases. You now can gather and edit data through email with using a server environment.

Check You Data Formatting

Conditional formatting has a valuable new feature allowing you to view data bars along with your data and you can now manage the conditional formatting rules from one view.

Conditional Formatting for a specific field

The new Access 2010 default page, is called Backstage View, replacing the "File" menu. The Backstage View allows you to:

• Open the Application Log
• Check for web compatibility
• Publish the database
• Compact the database
• Analyze the database
• Perform database encryption
• Open the table relationships

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Table Macros . . . Similar To SQL Server Triggers

A popular enhancement for developers will be the addition of macros that are like SQL server triggers to local Access tables. This can be very important if you plan on publishing your site as a web application. See more about this below. The development environment is very nice, allowing for a right-click copy and paste, so some or all of the macro can be used in another section of the database. Additionally, after copying, you can paste the macro into other programs, including Notepad or Outlook or web page text boxes.

Here are some examples of possible uses for the new Macro functionality:

• Create, delete, or edit a record
• Set a field or variable value
• Send an Email
• Raise an error
• Log an event

MS Access Macros . . . General Features

All macros in Access 2010 will have feature the improved functionality like the Table Macros. Microsoft Access 2010 macros are much more powerful and use a new Macro builder interface as well, taking advantage of Visual Basic for Application (VBA) code that was not previously available. Macros can now also represented with XML . . . this new power is all intended to assist the use of Access on the web with SharePoint

SharePoint Integration With New Web Database Files

Microsoft has a video about this new feature, however, it has not released the interface for publication (Non-Disclosure rules apply here). The "publish to web" function will apply to SharePoint sites, so this is not a standalone web page/site development environment, like Dreamweaver or Visual Studio. If you are looking for a "web ready" solution for Access 2010, you will need to use a SharePoint server. Many companies are now on board with SharePoint, so this new feature leverages Access 2010 in the large corporate environment and reduces need to convert your Access database to SQL Server. Yes, Access 2007 did have this feature, but it is now far more robust and easier to apply.

Application Parts

The Application Parts menu option exposes a list of templates that may be inserted into a database application. This feature needs some work; there have been program failures in Beta 1. Look for additional information on this topic.

The Technical Preview Beta has only been available for about a week, but the future for Microsoft Access 2010 looks bright. The promise of SharePoint usability and tighter integration with the other Office products indicates Microsoft's intention to keep Access alive and active for the future.

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