[AccessD] Where do we go from here?

jwcolby jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Wed Feb 11 17:19:15 CST 2009


I will certainly entertain the idea.  What I don't want to do is launch into a month long complex 
project that the beginner class user does not understand and see everyone wander away.

There is no reason why it cannot be done as a project for those who already know and love classes.

John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com


William Hindman wrote:
> ...well you asked and Max replied ...and as a die-hard user of his 
> incredibly useful EatBloat.mdb for Access, I'd be remiss if I didn't second 
> his motion to retool it from the ground up right here on AccessD ...might 
> not be where you wanted to go with this series but I think you ought to give 
> it a good look ...not only would we learn how to do real world stuff, we'd 
> wind up with a better tool that any Access developer would consider a must 
> have in their toolbox ...if you've never used it, even you might be 
> pleasantly surprised.
> 
> William
> 
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "jwcolby" <jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 5:45 PM
> To: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving" 
> <accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
> Subject: Re: [AccessD] Where do we go from here?
> 
>> ROTFL.
>>
>> You laugh but when I learned about classes, I rewrote my entire framework 
>> from scratch.  It was
>> sooooo much cleaner and so much more functional.  Then, with the 
>> experience I gained from that I
>> rewrote it a third time.
>>
>> Classes really do rock!
>>
>> In this case however I am looking for ideas on what simple things we can 
>> do to better illustrate how
>> and why you would use a class.  If you get too complex people will drop 
>> like flies.  Let them get
>> hooked, then we can do some more complex stuff.  Perhaps an audit trail 
>> for changes?
>>
>> For now I think the next step will be to build some tables with data and a 
>> form to load / edit data
>> for a combo box.  Once we have that then I can demonstrate having the 
>> combo class double click event
>> automatically open the form, seek to the right record (or the new record) 
>> and let the user add new
>> records to the list table.  When the form closes, the combo requeries to 
>> get the changes to the list
>> data.
>>
>> This is actual stuff that I do with my combo class, and displays how a 
>> combo can have behaviors
>> added in the wrapper class to make it more useful.  Additionally it 
>> demonstrates how these behaviors
>> can be available in any combo in any form, with a very simple "setup" to 
>> cause it to happen.
>>
>> Have you ever inherited a database (or designed one for that matter) where 
>> dates are entered and
>> displayed in different formats all over the various forms.  No 
>> consistency, drives the users crazy.
>>
>> I also have a behavior where (in a bound form) I dig down to discover the 
>> data type of the field
>> that a control is bound to (DAO here).  Once I have the datatype, I 
>> automatically cause the text box
>> to display a specific date mask if the text box is bound to a date field. 
>> Having this behavior in
>> the text class allows me to tell the system in one place what the date 
>> format should look like, and
>> then when any form (that uses the form class) opens, it automatically 
>> discovers all date fields and
>> sets them up to a common date mask.
>>
>> Stuff like that.
>>
>> We have pretty much learned how to build classes, and how to sink events 
>> in classes, so it is time
>> to put this new knowledge to use.
>>
>> John W. Colby
>> www.ColbyConsulting.com
>>
>>
>> Max Wanadoo wrote:
>>> Well, for me it would be a project.  I have suggested a fully functional
>>> import/export to text for all objects to help people avoid bloat and 
>>> recover
>>> from disasters.  My second project request would be to re-write the whole 
>>> of
>>> my work project which started in 2000 and really, and I mean really, do 
>>> with
>>> a make-over.  On second thoughts, my second request is now my first
>>> request!!!  When do we start?
>>>
>>> Max
>>> Ps.  Well, you did ask!
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
>>> [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of jwcolby
>>> Sent: 11 February 2009 22:06
>>> To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
>>> Subject: [AccessD] Where do we go from here?
>>>
>>> So what would you folks like to see next?  I still have a rabbit in the 
>>> hat
>>> and a few things up my
>>> sleeve.
>>>
>> -- 
>> AccessD mailing list
>> AccessD at databaseadvisors.com
>> http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd
>> Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com
>>
> 



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