[AccessD] Form Lifetime Control Limit (Was: Advice on A2010....)

Kenneth Ismert kismert at gmail.com
Mon Dec 12 14:51:10 CST 2011


>
> William Benson:
> I would love to hear MS's defense of this "lifetime" limitation. Especially
> a number like 754! Number theorists, have at it!
>

I can account for 255 of the 'missing' controls: Access queries have a 255
field limit. Correspondingly, on an Access form, there are 255 AccessField
objects reserved for holding query row values.

AccessField objects allow you to refer to the underlying field's value
without binding it to a control

Subtract 255 from 1024 and you get 769. So that is 754 user controls, plus
15 'system reserved'. These could be things like navigation buttons, record
selectors, datasheet support, PrtDevMode and PrtMip.

Mark Simms:
> Wow Ken, very intriguing....but more importantly, AFTER ALL OF THIS TIME
> WHY
> WASN'T THE LIMIT RAISED
>

I can't give you specifics, but I can tell you that a project like Access
has a tremendous amount of inertia. Unless you build in flexibility from
the very beginning, changing fundamental constants when a project is mature
becomes very difficult.

The cost of fixing all the things that would break when changing limits
like this would likely exceed the cost of building a new system from
scratch.

Thus, the emphasis on 'window dressing'. Its all flash and noise dedicated
to selling the same old thing, which buys time for newer projects like
LightSwitch to gain traction.

-Ken



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