Microsoft Access Team Blog : Navigation Pane

Access 2007 tips and tricks from the team

Clint Covington — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 07:14:00 GMT

Months ago I posted a three part tips and tricks series on Access 2007 on my personal blog. I recently got feedback that the series should be posted on the Access team blog--makes sense as this blog gets about 3 million more hits a month than my personal effort.

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I have been working on a three part series of non-obvious tips and tricks for using Access 2007. The other series will be on designing forms and reports and my favorite keyboard shortcuts. I put together a rough draft of this series and sent it around to the Access team. Fortunately, many team members responded with some good additions.

Enjoy and have fun building great applications!

Clint

Navigation Pane

There is a hidden menu in the navigation pane that is quite useful. Right click on the navigation pane title for this menu:

My two favorite options in this menu is the Search Bar and the Sort | Custom Sort options. The search bar performs a Like *value* filter on the object name. This is really handy if you have a naming convention and want to quickly narrow down the displayed list. The Custom Sort option allows you to sort the objects in a custom order.

Another thing, if you have focus in the navigation pane CTRL F will automatically turn on the search bar. You can use the down arrow to select items and the enter key to open the object. It makes it pretty easy to find and open objects with the keyboard, especially if the object has a unique string in its name.

Don't miss this video tutorial to get up to speed quickly.

Open Last Database

Office Button | Access Options | Advanced Tab in the Advances section there’s a new option to have Access automatically open the last opened database on boot. –Scott (developer lead)

New Database Settings

It is possible to customize the default database settings for new databases. Our UA team and Allen Browne have nice write-ups about it—so I won’t repeat it.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/HA100378371033.aspx?pid=CH100948231033#blanktemplate

http://allenbrowne.com/ser-43.html#dbtemplate

Table and Field Templates

Table and field templates are quick ways to create tables and new fields with a number of property settings already set. The field templates have a number of core field types and fields taken from common schemas. It is possible to override and extend the fields in the field templates task pane and the tables that get created from the Create | Table menu.

The fields and tables are created based on the ACCFL files found in the drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\1033\Access directory. These files are XML files based on the same format if you exported a table as XML and XSD. Any schema files stored in the directory named ACCFL will show up in the fields task pane. Unfortunately, you can’t add additional tables or rename existing tables (painful cut). However, if you are always creating Order tables and never Issues—you might want to change Issues to Orders. Export your Orders table to XML/XSD. Rename the XSD to Issues. ACCFL and save it to the directory. Next time you create an Issues table it will be an Orders table.

Here is a link to a UA article on the subject.

New ADP

However, I frequently see questions about how to create a new ADP. It is a bit buried in the new getting started interface. For the users that need to create new ADP files, here are the steps:

1. Click on the new Database in the Getting Started screen.

2. Click on the folder icon next to the file path.

3. In the files of type choose Access Data Project.

4. Name the file and click Create

Here is a link to a UA article on New ADPs for more information.

Filtering and Queries

As a user interactions designer, I’m convinced context will continue to drive UI innovation. Contextual tabs in the ribbon are one example of some great work done in this space. Filtering is another place inside Access that being smart about context really improves the user experience. In the past, text in the context menu was Filter by Selection and Exclude Selection. Access 2007 I clarifies context through vocabulary. Selected next now shows up in the context menu to provide more clarity. Did you know that the right-click context filtering options change based on your selection? Give it a try—look at the right click menu when the first and last character is selected. Now try selecting the whole word. You will also notice the filter options change based on the data type.

The new filtering UI in Access makes it really easy to quickly create complicated WHERE clauses in queries. Save As for queries will flatten the active filter into the where clause. Open your favorite query and filter a date column using the This Month filter. Click on the Office Button | Save As. Give the new query a name.

Copy and Paste From Excel

Many good lists start in Excel and need to transfer into Access. Here is a simple way to get data into Access quickly.

1. Copy the data from Excel.

2. Create a new table inside Access

3. Click on the Add New Field

4. CRTL V – just like that you get a table inside Access. The new Table Tools contextual ribbon allows you to make the most common schema changes without flipping into design.

You should also notice the behavior of copy and paste from Excel to Access has been improved in other areas.

Import From Excel

When importing from Excel files you can now override the data-type for a field. Sorry, I missed setting the data-type on link. Hopefully, the Access team will do that feature in the next version.

Outlook Reminders for Saved Import and Export Operations

You might have noticed at the end of an import or export operation there is a victory dialog. There is an option asking you if you want to save the operation. You might notice at the bottom if you want to create an Outlook reminder.

This feature was designed for people that need to publish a report every couple days. You can use the Outlook reminders feature to remind the user to perform the task on a scheduled basis. The task has a Run Export/Import command that will repeat the recorded operation.

Here is a link to a good UA topic on the subject.

SharePoint Performance

The team spent a bunch of time improving SharePoint performance but it still is influenced by the speed of the connection to the server, server performance, and size of the data. I have found working with SharePoint data offline and using the synchronize command a far better experience. This works much faster unless you are working on data that everyone else is changing. The conflict resolver UI gives you the chance to override server changes or discard your own changes.

In the future, Access should provide the option for merge changes. Oh well, something for vnext.

SharePoint also has a flag called Cache List Data. This stores a copy of the list data in the database file. When the database opens the Access database engine only requests changes from the server. It is a nice performance win for the client and server.

One last thing… If your list on SharePoint is getting really large—you might consider linking to a view and not the list. This works well for scenarios where you have archived data in a table that isn’t necessary for your view. There is a trick—you can’t bind to the view using the UI. Use the TransferSharePointList method to create the link table. It has a property for the view.

Templates

You just created the projects template and think,

“Wow, MS did a pretty good job designing this template. I would really use it if only they had named the tables and fields something different (Projects should be called tblSpecs for my purpose).”

Name fix-up is helpful at renaming objects and field names in templates. I know, I know—-name fix-up has a terrible reputation. In this release we made a significant investment in the name fix-up code base. Why? Early on we made the decision to use name fix-up to create localized templates. Every template we ship has an internal structure of English names. When a localized template is instantiated Access uses the name map to rename all objects from their English name to the localized name.

What does this mean to you instantiating a template? It means that if you instantiate the projects template and rename projects to specs, name fix-up will make sure all references to the project table gets fix-up to specs. Access 2007 fix-up references in embedded macros, labels on field names, and conditional formats. The code was extremely well tested because if name fix-up failed a localized template would be broken. This commitment to use name fix-up dramatically increased the amount of testing and overall reliability of the feature.

Zac’s book on templates The Rational Guide To Microsoft Office Access 2007 Templates is the definitive guide. If you are thinking about building a template—this is the book to get.

Template Internals

Want to see what’s inside a template file, the gory details of what makes up the .accdt file format? Just rename the package to .zip and double click to open. Inside you’ll find all the different parts of the database represented in XML and TXT formats, along with resources like the picture Access displays on the template’s tile in Getting Started. (Zac—form and report program manager)

Sorting Nav Pane Objects by Description

Zac Woodall — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 20:35:00 GMT

I've recently had some questions from users who used to sort their DBC by the description field and wanted to be able to do the same thing in the 2007 navigation pane. If you use this scenario, and you've tried in 2007, you'll know that the navigation pane doesn't have a sort by the description field. One way to work around this is to create a query that does it for you.

Here's a sample that lists the user Query objects in the database along with their descriptions. Note because the Description property is not stored as a field in MSysObjects, you need some accompanying VBA logic to retrieve the description property from the property bag.

First, add this function in VBA:

Public Function stDesc(stQryName As String) As String
On Error Resume Next
stDesc = CurrentDb.QueryDefs(stQryName).Properties("Description")
End Function

Then run this query:

SELECT MSysObjects.Name, stDesc([Name]) AS Description
FROM MSysObjects
WHERE (((MSysObjects.Name) Not Like "~*") AND ((MSysObjects.Type)=5))
ORDER BY stDesc([Name]);

Navigation pane tip of the day

Clint Covington — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:29:00 GMT

I learned a new trick today from Michael the PM for the navigation pane. We have heard a few of you have missed the ALT D shortcut to open an object in design. As you know, ALT in ribbon apps now allows you to access ribbon shortcuts. Next time you want to open an object in design view, try Control Enter.

On a related note, a while back Russell Sinclair posted the following comment to my blog about the nav pane:

The default setup when you open a new database or a database that hasn't been opened in Access 2007 is not configurable. I would like to be able to define whether or not the search shows by default, which list is used, and what view (list, icon, detail) is shown.

Russell--sorry for taking so long to get back to you but this is pretty easy. You just need to create a custom New Database template with the search box on and your favorite view type selected.

Additionally, there is a new visual demo available titled Meet the Navigation Pane.

New Access 2007 Articles on Office Online

Zac Woodall — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 20:33:00 GMT

Thanks to Jeff Conrad on the Access test team for this:

Office Online now has published four articles with material pulled from the Microsoft Office Access 2007 Inside Out book. This enormous book, published by Microsoft Press, is co-authored by Access MVP John L. Viescas and recent Microsoft hire Jeff Conrad. You can find these new articles at the following links:

Exploring a desktop Access 2007 database:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/HA102326851033.aspx

Create an Access 2007 database using templates:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/HA102326861033.aspx

Build forms in Access 2007 using design tools:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/HA102326841033.aspx

Automate applications with macros in Access 2007:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access/HA102326831033.aspx

Filtering the Navigation Pane

Erik Rucker — Fri, 19 May 2006 15:43:00 GMT

In an earlier post, I showed the Navigation Pane, which shows all of the objects in the current database. The Nav Pane works great, is easy to expand and collapse sections, and so on, but the list can still get long enough to be hard to find things quickly. So, we've added the ability to filter it. Here's how it works.

First, the filtering UI is turned off by default (since it takes up space and is only useful for some large databases). If you'd like to use it, go to the Navigation Options dialog by right-clicking in the header of the pane and selecting "Navigation Options":

Then turn on "Show Search Bar".

(Click image to enlarge)

This inserts a filter control at the top of the Nav Pane:

Typing in the control essentially does a *.* contains filter and filters the contents of the pane as you type:

Quick, simple, and super useful! OK, that really is the last post before I disappear for a week...

Better Navigation in Less Space

Erik Rucker — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 13:51:00 GMT

One of the areas we worked hardest at in Access 12 was in simplifying the UI and using available screen real estate. As you know in Access 2003 new objects are opened in a new window. It is not uncommon for a simple Access application session to have 8-10 windows open at a time. As new windows open the database container window (DBC) constantly gets pushed behind new objects as they open. I bet a few of you have worn out the F11 keystroke bring the DBC back into the foreground.

Access 2003

Access 12

(click to enlarge)

We did two things to that are at the heart of streamlining the user experience. First, the DBC has been re-written as a left hand docked window. We are introducing tabs that allow you to open multiple objects and navigate between the objects much easier. Opening a new window will never open the object on top of the DBC even without tabs. It is very easy to collapse the navigation pane into a small vertical strip running down the left side. To reclaim even more vertical space the ribbon can be collapsed as well.

Objects in a database can be grouped a few ways:

Object Type (tables, forms, reports, queries, macros). This is pretty similar to the way things worked in previous versions but you can now see all objects in one window.

A filtering menu allows users to view all groups or focus in on one at a time
Tables and Related Views. This view will group by the table and all of it’s related views. This is quite handy if you are working in a database developed by someone else and you need to determine what objects might be effected by a change.
Created and Modified Date. Modified and Created date views are similar to Outlook 2003 where data is grouped according to days of the week, last week, last month, last year, etc.
Custom Groups. My favorite way is my way! Custom groups in many ways replace the old switchboard manager. A custom group has a title and holds shortcuts to database objects. You can create as many as you want for a database and the names of the shortcuts can be renamed (if your form is frmCustomers you can rename it to Customers). Shortcuts can be dragged and dropped from the unassigned objects well.

Type in the new name...

Configuring these is about as simple as creating custom groups in Messenger. Programmatically, you can hide and show groups based on user roles and expand and collapse different groups. You can also import and export custom groups from different databases.

A navigation options dialog allows you to manage all of the options in one central place.

Using the new OM for the navigation pane developers can lock it down and focus end users on what’s most important for them (this is a nice way of saying “keeping them from hosing the database”).

In conjunction with the navigation pane the new single document interface (SDI) mode further stream-lines the experience. If this new option is set, forms and reports are opened in tab windows instead of MDI windows. This has a dramatic effect of reducing the visual noise a user experiences. It allows people to take advantage of the screen real estate available in modern computers.

SDI is the default option for new databases but your old databases will still default to the MDI window style. I think many of you will want to update your applications to take advantage of this new interface.

We are finding that users really appreciate the new premium placed on utilizing screen real estate. The new features allow users to view more and more of the data with less noise. In a future blog I will tell you more about how control anchoring allows developers to build applications that make even better use of the new SDI interface.

Security followup

Erik Rucker — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 23:24:00 GMT

This is a consolidated post covering the main things that came up about security. Again sorry for the delay on getting this out. Also note the post has links to the pictures rather than in-place thumbnails. I'll get them moved to a better home where I can reference them directly tomorrow.

I took away 4 main issues from the comments on the security model:

What is “disabled mode” and how does it work?
What are “safe macros” and why would anyone ever use them?
How can I tailor my app’s UI to specific users without using User Level Security?
How do ADP’s fit into the new security story?

Disabled Mode:

The Automation security property will still be honored and will continue to function the way it always did. This property as you already know is valid and useful in developer scenarios where Access is launched using startup scripts and applications.

Disabled mode and the Office Trust Center are designed to make it easier for a user to make trust decisions in scenarios where scripts that launch Access do not come into play.

There are scenarios, where developers of a solution want to ensure that code in Access (startup form/ macro or otherwise) always executes. In such cases the recommended approach is to ensure that one or more of the following conditions are met:

The database is signed with a trusted certificate.
The database is installed in a trusted location.

By meeting these conditions, the code within the solution will always be enabled. In scenarios where neither of these conditions can be guaranteed, Access can be made to revert to its legacy behavior of a modal startup trust prompt, that will launch and execute code in the database or not open the file at all. To revert to this legacy behavior set the following registry key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Access\Security\

Value: ModalTrustDecisionOnly = 1 (DWORD)

Safe Macros:

Safe Macros aren’t meant to replace code, and as noted there is no way all VBA in Access apps today could be replaced by macros. However, they can still serve a very useful purpose, and there is an interesting set of applications that can be created with no VBA at all. The Access team is building over 25 out of the box applications that use only macros. By not using code, we can ensure that these apps are fully functional without signing and without being trusted – they can be mailed around and will work great. In order to make that work, we’ve extended the macro language in some key areas and rethought about the way we build apps.

Even applications that use VBA may still want to use macros for some functionality, like creating simple navigation that will still work when the application is running in disabled mode. Examples include:

Enable navigation and other safe actions that will be available to the user even in disabled mode.
A combination of safe macros and code, provide an alternatives like an alert requesting the user to enable the database to unleash its full potential in disabled mode, where as using code to fulfill complex business logic requirements in enabled mode. For example: Let's say a button is supposed to execute an update query, which would be disabled if the database is not trusted, in this case using a macro that looks like the following can provide a usable experience:

{missing picture 1 is available at http://groups.msn.com/AccessBlogPics/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=1}

Custom navigation using the navigation tools:

Access 12 developers will be able to customize the “navigation pane” (new nav metaphor, more on that very soon) to show users only those objects they need to see. This is the key thing that Access developers did with the ULS, but done in the context of personalization rather than security.

Let's consider a simple scenario where the database has the following objects:

Tables:

Issues

Contacts

Forms:

Contacts

Issues List

Issue Details

Reports:

Active Issues

Issues by Assigned To

Macros:

Autoexec

As the creator of the solution let's say I wanted to create the following navigation model:

A set of my users see all the objects and are able to design them.
A set of my users can see and use some forms and reports but not design them.
A set of my users can only see and use the forms and reports based on Issues, not Contacts.

To go about doing this I can use the concepts of the navigation pane along with certain macros and even code.

The first step is for me to create the navigation pane categories and groups that would allow me to divide up these objects in a way that makes sense. Based on my requirements, I'd need three categories, with the following groups and object shortcuts:

· All Objects

· Tables:

· Issues

· Contacts

· Forms

· Contacts

· Issues List

· Issue Details

· Reports

· Active Issues

· Issues by Assigned To

· Macros

· Autoexec

· Issues and Contacts

· Forms

· Contacts

· Issues List

· Reports

· Active Issues

· Issues by Assigned To

· Issues

· Forms

· Issues List

· Reports

· Active Issues

· Issues by Assigned To

For object shortcuts in the "Issues and Contacts" category and the "Issues" category, I'd disable design UI (using the shortcut properties option in the context menu for each shortcut). The property on the shortcut will disable all UI entry points into design for that object.

{{missing picture 2 is available at http://groups.msn.com/AccessBlogPics/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=2}}

Now with my categories ready I can create the logic that sets the navigation pane category based on the user. To identify the user I can use code to get the current windows user ID and map that ID to a given category or any other logic (like a custom login prompt) I prefer.

Let's say I'm using code to identify the user and assign him a category (in a function called GetUseCategory()), then the startup macro would look like:

{missing picture 3 is available at http://groups.msn.com/AccessBlogPics/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=3}

A brief introduction to Navigation pane macros:

SetDisplayedCategories:

This macro allows the user to specify the categories displayed in the navigation pane. It takes two arguments:

Show (Yes/No): Specifies whether to hide or show specified category.

Category (Enum): Allows the user to specify an existing category. If blank macros operates on all categories.

LockNavigationPane:

This macro allows the user to lock the navigation pane, disabling any further customization via the UI. It takes one argument: Lock (Yes/No).

NavigateTo:

This macro allows the user to navigate to a specific category and sub group. It takes two arguments:

Category (Enum): Specifies the name of an existing category. If blank default to first available category.

Group (Enum): Specifies the name of the group within the category.

ADP’s and Access 12 Security:

The ADP architecture is conceptually unchanged between Access 2003 and Access12, which means that the features continue to work in essentially the same way they did. We continue to believe that SQL Server makes a great store for Access data and that building the UI either through linked tables or ADPs will continue to work well.