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Microsoft Access 2000 (and later) lets you conditionally format the data in combo box and text box controls based on certain conditions through the user interface or through programming. However, each control is limited to a maximum of three conditional...

Excel allows you to create custom functions, called "User Defined Functions" (UDF's) that can be used the same way you would use SUM(), VLOOKUP, or other built-in Excel functions. The Excel user who wishes to use advanced mathematics or perform text manipulation...

One of the views associated with creating queries in the Query designer in Access is the SQL window. The SQL window displays SQL statements that are created behind the scenes when you create a query. However, the SQL window doesn't display just SQL statements...

ADO is used for performing client/server data access between a data consumer and a data provider. ADO is a good choice, in many instances, for working with Excel data because it eliminates the sometime lengthy process of having to open Excel. Using ADO...

This is the first in a series of topics focusing on the new Office 2007 user interface (UI) and Ribbon extensibility, also called RibbonX. By now, you've probably seen blogs, press releases, and other information on the virtues and benefits of the new...

Among the top four objects most searched for on the Microsoft Developer Network by Excel programmers are the Sheets collection and the Worksheets collection (the other two are the Range object and the Application object). As an aside, I've written new...

In this topic on customizing the Ribbon UI, we'll look at different scenarios for customizing the Ribbon at the application-level by using COM add-ins. These modifications could just as easily be applied to a specific document with document-level customizations...

In this installment in the series on customizing the Ribbon UI, we'll look at adding application-level customization. In the previous blog, we detailed the steps to create document-level Ribbon by modifying an Open XML Formats macro-enabled file in Word...

In the previous blog, I created a COM add-in in managed C# code that customized the Ribbon UI regardless of which document was open. In this topic, I use the same customization XML and create the add-in in Visual Basic 6.0. The existing Ribbon UI in Word...

I recently had a customer ask how he could freeze objects, in this case a set of buttons, so that they didn't disappear as he scrolled through his Excel spreadsheet. This sounds like it would be a common request and have a topic in Excel help. However...

In this blog, I will walk through an example of adding a custom tab, custom group, and a button with a simple callback procedure to the Ribbon in a Word 2007 document. To get started: 1. Create the customization file in any text editor by adding the...

In the previous blog, I discussed reasons for the new Office Ribbon UI, ways to customize the Ribbon, parts of the Ribbon, and gave an example of an XML customization file. In this blog, I'll talk some about callback procedures that give the Ribbon's...

--Making Sense of Database Normalization, Hopefully-- Following is my take on database normalization. Hopefully this simplified version will help your understand of a sometime complicated subject a little better. When setting up a database...

Many developers recognize the need to disable certain controls in their application to either keep from confusing users as to which button to click or to keep users from clicking buttons at an inappropriate time. Usually this is done by programmatically...

The Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) integrated development environment (IDE) seen in the Microsoft Office applications contains lots of tools to help you diagnose and fix errors in your code. However, many of us don't take advantage of the tools that...

In my last blog, I talked about debugging with the Watch window where you can do things such as look at the value of expressions at some point in the code execution and halt execution when a variable reaches a specific value. Other useful tools to help...

One of the subjects that made me nervous when taking computer science classes in college was recursive programming. It was easy to accidentally write a recursive (i.e. never-ending} program but it was sometimes hard for me to determine when I should write...

Just as Michael Corleone said in Godfather III, "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in." I'm not talking about organized crime. I'm talking about XBox. Until about two years ago, I was a major Quake affectionato. I couldn't wait to get home...

Since 1994, regardless of my actual job, I've always found a way to stay involved with Access. I'm certainly no expert but I like working with Access and with the people that work with Access. I just finished attending the MVP Summit in Redmond, my second...

One of the questions frequently asked by new Access users (and veterans as well) in the newsgroups concerns writing expessions that reference various collections, objects, and properties. When should you use a bang (!) and when should you use a dot (...

One of the areas where I see a lot of questions in the newsgroups concerns the performance of Access databases. Access databases are used for a variety of applications; everything from relatively small to medium records management to proof of concept...

The Microsoft Office Developer Center (ODC) ( http://msdn.microsoft.com/office ) contains a tremendous number of how-to articles, videos, code samples, and so forth to help you create Office solutions. The menus and links on the ODC are pretty handy for...

One of the coolest features in Office that I think many people (well, at least me) overlook is the translation capability. You can type in a word and get a translation immediately in any language you select. I'm currently trying to teach myself Spanish...

Visual Studio 2005 code snippets are a neat way to package pieces of code that you want to keep close at hand. These can be code samples that you've created or samples that you find during searches. And creating them is pretty easy with some of the free...

Starting Report page numbers from a number other than one In Design View place an unbound text box in the report footer or header. Then enter the following in the ControlSource property of the text box: ="Page " & [Page]+([Starting Page]-1)...