Comments

# Alain Meton said on February 14, 2006 1:33 PM:

I’ve tested your beta vertion, it translates correctly my Access97 database but if I imports toolbars the base becomes unusable well it is just a beta.

The look of the new access is fine, the automatic resize is a great thing. Note that lots of my customers use 800x600 screen resolution so with the pane and the ribon there is not enough space on the screen.

I am a little disappointed with the buttons, I would have hoped for a little more imagination in the form , the colors, and the ability to mix text and image...

As much I appreciated Ribon in Word as much in access it is a pain.  I am used to having my own toolbars with the icones I use most, for me the Ribon is not frankly an advantage unless I can find a way to custom it.

What’s  annoy me more  is  that I did not find a means of prevent  end-users to modify the structure of  forms or to modify directly the datas.  In a professional application these things are absolutely prohibited for confidentiality and  safety reasons .  If you use Money you can see that you can’t changes screens nor use the datas without the program. (By the way an access template that simulate Money would be great).

# clintc said on February 15, 2006 12:04 PM:

Thanks for your feedback Alain. We would love to have more information about your Access 97 toolbars instability. Can you log bugs in betaplace and we cna investigate more? The team is working very hard to ensure backwards compatability.

You are correct--screen real estate is tight at 800x600. We have spent a fair amount of time scaling the ribbon down to really small sizes. All the commands should be available but space is tight. We did do work to make the navigation pane collapseable to give more space.

The Beta 1 build didn't have any of the final visuals--I have personally spent a huge amount of time polishing the new look. We are still getting new icons back from vendors and tweaking the ribbon to be even more useful and intuitive. There will be more information coming out about the new look and further updates.

>> What’s  annoy me more  is  that I did not find a means of prevent  end-users to modify the structure of  forms or to modify directly the datas.

We heard that feedback loud  and clear in the beta. Developers wanted an easier way to lock things down. We are in the final stages of finishing work that should solve these issues. Basically, with a database setting you can turn off all the UI that allows users to modify the app.

We also heard that people wanted more flexibility in customizing ribbons for their own databases. Bunch of work just got checked in yesterday that will provide you with far more flexibility. We will have more information available in the next refresh.

The team has spent a bunch of time listening to beta 1 feedback and making changes that are really great for developers building solutions. This is a big release as we have refactored so many parts of the user experience. Like every release there are more things we would like to have done but I feel pretty good about the work that was done in response to beta 1 feedback.

Clint Covington

# Chris B. said on February 15, 2006 11:24 PM:

Clint, I very much appreciate your responsiveness to developors needs as expressed above.

Could you tell me whether Access 12 can be controlled via automation like the previous versions?  (E.g. using CreateObject in VB6 or other COM style environments).

Also, is there some way I can download the beta or is it by invitation only at this stage?  

# clintc said on February 16, 2006 12:21 AM:

We haven't taken away any automation control that existed in previous versions. We did do a bunch of work to expose the grid in MSAA, primarly for accessiblity but also is available through automation.

Here is a link to subscribe to the next beta. http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/default.mspx.  Click on the Register Now link to the right.

Clint

# Chris B. said on February 16, 2006 5:34 AM:

Many thanks for the info.

Chris

# StepUP said on February 17, 2006 10:48 AM:

Clint,

Thanks for all the info that you've supplied in recent days. I really got a taste of what's in store in Access 12 (er...2007) from watching the video of your PDC presentation. Nice job!

One thing I am still in a quandary about is security, particularly on the user level. Will Access MDB's still use SYSTEM.MDW to store security info? I have asked about this in other threads and am still not sure what the plan, or architecture, is.

All the new features look great, but I can say from my own experience (13 years of developing Access apps) that for the type of work I do, it is unlikely that I will employ Sharepoint or SQL for the majority of my solutions. As you pointed out in the video, a lot of Access databases in the past evolved from data originally held in Excel spreadsheets. This type of customer wants a localized solution that is more workable than Excel for data. They are NOT looking to invest in a server solution that requires installation and administration expertise.

So please don't forget about the good ol' MDB/Jet solution. The new engine looks exciting, and its great that it will be compatible with DAO. This will continue to be a hugely popular solution for customers if the RAD capabilities of Access are maintained for a local solution, AND security is not sacrificed. Right now, I can NOT deliver a local solution to some government agencies because of the security issue. I know many developers share this concern.

Thanks!

John F

# Garry Robinson said on February 20, 2006 4:01 PM:

I have posted a blog on the security depreciation feature of the ADEDB file. You may want to check it out.

# Garry Robinson said on February 20, 2006 4:06 PM:

On the last post, the url was
http://vb123.blogspot.com/

# StepUP said on February 21, 2006 10:24 PM:

Garry,

Thanks for that, but I continue to be miffed by this approach. What you describe in the article is basicaly no security at all.

IMO Access security should be independent of environment, and again easily fixable if the devlopers had a mind to.

I just don't get it.....

# siegels said on February 27, 2006 12:37 PM:

why such secrecy on access 2007.  where is there any info on access and the web including  improvements in data access pages

# StepUP said on February 28, 2006 1:10 PM:

What is the point of having this blog if no one is going to update it or respond to questions and comments??

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