Understanding the Limitations of the DAP Conversion Process

Access 2003's Save As Data Access Page feature is available for table, query, form, and report objects in conventional Jet .mdb files and ADP. Be forewarned Save As DAP has a limited repertoire and stumbles when you try to save most Northwind.mdb or Northwind.adp sample form and report objects as pages. On the other hand, Save As DAP is the quickest and easiest way to create simple data entry pages for tables and to display query result sets in a browser. Saving PivotTable and PivotChart views of aggregate queries as pages is the most expeditious method of delivering data analysis pages to intranet users.

Note

SharePoint Team Services 2.0 lists that you import from or link to Jet or SQL server tables and queries are similar in function to data objects saved as DAP. Chapter 26, "Collaborating with SharePoint Team Services 2.0," describes how to create static and updatable lists from Jet and SQL Server 2000 tables and queries.

Like the Save As XML feature described in Chapter 23, "Exporting and Importing Data with XML," Save As DAP relies on ReportML to extract the property values of Access objects. The Save As DAP feature substitutes RPT2DAP.xsl for RPT2HTML4.xsl and transforms the intermediate XML data in ReportML format to the combination of XML and DHTML code used by DAP. RPT2DAP.xsl shares most of RPT2HTML4.xsl's limitations on support for native Access controls. The most important of the excluded objects are subform, subreport, tab, and bound and unbound object frame controls. You can use HTML inline frames (<IFRAME> elements) and VBScript code to emulate form/subform combinations, but transforming an existing Access form object to a main page and the subform to a page in an embedded frame usually doesn't succeed. Few conventional bound Access forms are suited to saving as pages directly. If you can adapt the page to a banded design, subordinate sections with navigation controls sometimes can take the place of subforms.

To download a Wizard that generates DAP with inline frames for subforms and subreports, see "In the Real World Enhancing Data Access Page Design," p. 1098.

Tip

The "Embed an Existing Page in a Data Access Page" article at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnacc2k2/html/odc_embedpage.asp explains how to add an inline HTML frame (<IFRAME>) and use a server filter to emulate a form/subform combination.

Saving reports as pages is a mixed bag. Even simple reports require design tweaks to generate attractive, usable pages. An exception is Northwind.mdb's Invoice report; it transforms to an almost-identical representation of the original. The only missing element is the DatePrinted value in the Page Header section, which involves a very simple fix. For more complex reports that include subtotals and grand totals, plan on spending at least an hour or two making page design changes. If your reports print calculated values other than standard aggregates of field values, be prepared to write VBScript event-handling code to generate the values.

Note

The chapter requires familiarity with basic HTML authoring techniques, but you don't need to be a professional Web page designer. Some of the examples include simple VBScript procedures for page navigation and passing parameters from one page to another. You don't need to be an experienced VBScript programmer to follow this chapter's examples.