Programming Microsoft Office Access 2003

Rick Dobson

PUBLISHED BY

Microsoft Press

A Division of Microsoft Corporation

One Microsoft Way

Redmond, Washington 98052-6399

Copyright 2003 by Rick Dobson

All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data [ pending.]

Dobson, Rick, 1944-

Programming Microsoft Office Access 2003 (Core Reference) / Rick Dobson.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-7356-1942-5

1.  Microsoft Office    I.  Title.

HF5548.4.M525D63    2003

005.75'65 ”dc21 2003050982

1 2 3 4  5  6  7  8  9    QWE      8 7 6 5 4 3

Distributed in Canada by H.B. Fenn and Company Ltd.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Microsoft Press books are available through booksellers and distributors worldwide. For further information about international editions, contact your local Microsoft Corporation office or contact Microsoft Press International directly at fax [phone]. Visit our Web site at www.microsoft.com/mspress. Send comments to [e-mail] .

Active Directory, ActiveX, FoxPro, FrontPage, IntelliSense, JScript, Microsoft, Microsoft Press, MSDN, the .NET logo, Outlook, PivotChart, PivotTable, PowerPoint, VGA, Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual InterDev, Visual Studio, Windows, Windows NT, Windows Server, and the Windows logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries . Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners .

The example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product, domain name , e-mail address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred.

Acquisitions Editor:  Anne Hamilton
Project Editor:  Dick Brown
Technical Editor: Jack Beaudry
Desktop Publisher: Gina Cassill

Body Part No. X09-69388

Acknowledgments

Several communities helped make this book available to you. I'll start by thanking the staff at Microsoft Press. My acquisitions editor, Anne Hamilton, used her business acumen and cheery attitude to help me keep my eye on the prize ”writing a timely book that serves the needs of busy Microsoft Access developers. My lead editor, Dick Brown, showed real concern for producing a book that gives developers the right information in a way that is easy to grasp. He was backed by two great supporting editors, Jack Beaudry and Brenda Pittsley, both of whom raised questions and smoothed the text to be clearer and more informative.

For each book I write, I seek out Microsoft program and product managers who help ensure that I cover the correct topics in the best way. For this book, I am especially honored to list Bill Ramos, a lead program manager for Access and Microsoft Excel. Other members of the Microsoft Access team who provided valuable insight and direction were Tim Getsch, Mike Wachal, and Sanjay Jacob.

I also want to thank the many readers who provided feedback on previous editions of this book and on my national seminar tours . Your feedback helps me to know what you value the most and to identify content that needs improvement. To provide feedback on this book, please leave a comment in the Guest Book at www.programmingmsaccess.com .

Finally, you would not be reading any of this if it were not for the loving, encouraging, and motivating support of my wife, Virginia Dobson. She backed me up when I accepted my first contract to write a book for Microsoft Press back in 1998. Her support has remained steadfast through this, my fifth title with Microsoft Press, for which she proofed much of the content before its initial submittal to Microsoft Press and did page proofs for all chapters before they went to the printer.

I appreciate all those listed above, yet it is the sustenance and divine guidance that I receive through my faith in God that enables me to compose the words and code samples in this book. Thank you, Jesus!