[AccessD] My latest bright idea

[Rocky Smolin]

One of the nice things about using the KDP platform is that you can upload
corrections to your book. They have some limits on how extensive the mods
can be before you have to make it a new "2nd Edition" book. But for a book
with a lot of code, and given that there is always ONE more bug, the
ability to make mods without the overhang of unsold copies would be a great
advantage.

r

On Sat, Jan 29, 2022 at 4:29 AM John Colby <jwcolby at gmail.com> wrote:

> I haven't tried it yet but...
>
> I want to publish my class stuff as an ebook a la Rocky.  The problem is
> creating an example database that I can update for eratta or fixes.  The
> code below supposedly saves and loads forms and modules.  What I do not
> know yet is whether it actually saves the form itself complete with all the
> controls, their positions etc.  If so then...
>
> Imagine a power shell script which the book buyer runs.  The script
> downloads a small, mostly empty database from my github page and opens it.
> When it opens an autoexec fires, which runs code in the one little module
> in the mostly empty database.  The code loads a little switchboard form
> with chapter buttons contained in a text file stored on my github page.
> The click of each button loads any modules, classes and forms required for
> a chapter from text files stored on my github page, essentially
> bootstrapping a fully functional demo database from text files stored on my
> github page.  If any of these files need changing or updating, I update
> them and load them back to my github page.  The next time the user opens
> the database, the changes are now loaded in the little database.
>
> If this works, I could build a maintainable demo database sitting in
> GitHub.
>
> The user can use the switchboard to load demo modules, classes, forms and
> reports, and then open forms which demo the functioning classes and how
> they work.
>
> In the old days (I know them well) a publisher would build a CD which would
> be contained in an envelope in the back of the book.  The method I am
> discussing would replace that CD.
>
> Questions, comments or things I forgot or didn't think about?
>
> *The code I referenced above...*
>
> The little documented SaveAsText and LoadFromText may help if an object is
> corrupted or otherwise behaving weirdly.  *Or for my purposes above...*
>
> At the debug/immediate window type:
>
> Application.SaveAsText acForm,"MyForm","c:\form.txt"
>
> You can load the file into a new MDB.
>
> Application.LoadFromText acForm,"MyForm","c:\from.txt"
>
>
>
> --
> John W. Colby
> Colby Consulting
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