Access 2010 - Initial Impressions

[Wendell]

I had the good fortune to be able to attend the Portland Access User Group http://www.paug.com Conference a few weeks ago, and to see a presentation by members of the development team for Access 2010, as well as a number of other presentations aimed at Access developers. I thought it might be useful to summarize that information and my own experiences with Access 2010 for others. The topic that has gotten the most press of course, is the improved integration with SharePoint that makes at least some applications capable of web usage, or even mixed usage. See this thread for some discussion on the pros and cons of that approach. However there are a number of other improvements in the tools and features that developers have available to them, so this thread will focus on those new capabilities:

• Web 2.0 Control - this lets you display web content on an Access form - think maps for example - pretty cool
• File menu customization (BackStage) - it replaces the Office button in all apps, and let's you build pretty sophisticated User Interfaces - see this MSDN article for all the gory details
• Ribbon Customization - it lets you do things to Ribbons much as you do with the QAT, and you don't have to resort to XML
• Navigation Control - a new type of control that you can use to do things much more sophisticated than the Switchboard, and they can be nested - see this Access Team Blog for details
• Application Parts - a new feature letting you store components as building blocks - one of the coolest features I think is the Instantiation Form which you can run once and which then deletes itself - very useful if you need some sort of setup process the first time a database is run - see this Access Team Blog for details
• New Data Types - new data types introduced in SQL Server 2008 are supported, although ADPs only support some of them, and the support for multi-value fields has been made more robust, and a new calculated field time has been introduced - I avoid using either of them
• Data Macros - if you are restricted to using an Access backend, these new macros give you some of the capabilities you get with SQL Server triggers - where they really are useful is with SharePoint hosted databases
• Enhanced Conditional Formatting - additional levels of conditional formatting can now be used, and reports in particular benefit from the new capabilities
• Data Bars - this new presentation tool lets you do a better job of portraying trends in data
• Developer Tools - there are some nice enhancements to developer tools - the Intelligent Table Designer, the Lookup Designer that builds relationships, and the Form Layout Controls that make mergeing and alignment easier

So far, it looks like there are a number of nice improvements for developers, and some interesting new features. I sort of view the transition from 2007 to 2010 as much like that going from 2000 to 2002/3 - I don't see any one feature that makes it compelling for everyone to upgrade, but I can see applications where it would be a no-brainer. One other link you might find useful is Changes in Access 2010. Finally, the 32-bit version is the only one I've used so far, and it looks pretty solid. Hope this helps - feel free to post your impressions and experiences with 2010 as you get the opportunity.

[HansV]

Thanks, Wendell! It looks like Access 2010 - apart from the SharePoint integration - addresses some of the deficiencies of Access 2007.

[JohnH]

Thanks Wendell

I have not looked at it at all yet. I have been waiting for its release. Then I will buy a new machine with Windows 7, and install Office 2010 and start finding my way around both.
I have been looking out to see when it becomes available. I saw this today, but it seems to be just the standard 'buy 2007 and upgrade later" option.

DellOffice2010.gif

[Wendell]

If you belong to the Microsoft Partner program or MSDN, or if you have bulk licensing as a business, then it can be downloaded. Otherwise General Availability is supposed to be 15th June. Also, I think Hans' appraisal is pretty accurate. I do think the Navigation Control may turn out to be really useful, and the Web Control is new technology. But it certainly isn't the same degree of change as going from 200X to 2007.