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Knowledge
I want to ask you a very important question for me. I am 47 years old and trying to re-enter the tech job market. I have worked successfully for many years developing with Access 2003, but it's been 10 years since I updated my knowledge and I don't know where to start. What do you recommend I do so I can get back to working with Access? Where do I start to update my knowledge? Thank you very much for reading.
The good news is that relational database applications are not fundamentally different today than they were 10 or 20 years ago. Access has added new features and deprecated some features, but it remains the same in all its essential functions and capabilities. For instance, the "database container" of 2003 is gone. We have a "navigation pane". Like all of Office, the ribbon has replaced menus.
Tables, however, remain tables. Queries are queries. VBA has evolved somewhat; among some improvements, however, you'll find that it is far less tolerant of ambiguity and unqualified references, something I whole-heartedly approve. For example, you once could refer to a control on a form with simply the name of the control, e.g. txtFirstName. Now, it's better to qualify it, e.g. Me.txtFirstName rather than let Access try to resolve it. That's an oversimplified example, but you get the point.
You'll also need to come up to speed on 64 bit code vs 32 bit code. Although MS still offers 32 bit Office, the trend is definitely towards 64 bit, and that does require updating some aspects of VBA, in particular API calls and ActiveX controls.
In other words, if you were comfortable designing well normalized relational database applications with Access 2003, you won't find Access 2021 or MS Access 365 that much of a challenge, once you get used to the lay of that land in the design interface.
Where to start? I think one of the best resources today is videos, although any good book on Access written within the last 8 or 10 years will stand you in good stead. As I say, cosmetically some things are different, but in its essence, Access is the same robust RAD tool.
2 Replies
- George_HepworthSilver Contributor
The good news is that relational database applications are not fundamentally different today than they were 10 or 20 years ago. Access has added new features and deprecated some features, but it remains the same in all its essential functions and capabilities. For instance, the "database container" of 2003 is gone. We have a "navigation pane". Like all of Office, the ribbon has replaced menus.
Tables, however, remain tables. Queries are queries. VBA has evolved somewhat; among some improvements, however, you'll find that it is far less tolerant of ambiguity and unqualified references, something I whole-heartedly approve. For example, you once could refer to a control on a form with simply the name of the control, e.g. txtFirstName. Now, it's better to qualify it, e.g. Me.txtFirstName rather than let Access try to resolve it. That's an oversimplified example, but you get the point.
You'll also need to come up to speed on 64 bit code vs 32 bit code. Although MS still offers 32 bit Office, the trend is definitely towards 64 bit, and that does require updating some aspects of VBA, in particular API calls and ActiveX controls.
In other words, if you were comfortable designing well normalized relational database applications with Access 2003, you won't find Access 2021 or MS Access 365 that much of a challenge, once you get used to the lay of that land in the design interface.
Where to start? I think one of the best resources today is videos, although any good book on Access written within the last 8 or 10 years will stand you in good stead. As I say, cosmetically some things are different, but in its essence, Access is the same robust RAD tool.
- GabrielDestefanisCopper ContributorThank you very much for the reply. Your words give me courage to develop again and give me confidence to face this challenge. What scares me the most is the code, but if I want to take advantage of it again I have to get to work with everything new. Thank you very much.