KingCadillac said:
OK, thank you gentlemen for your responses. So are you saying that there
is
no significant difference between the 97/03 versions except 03 may have
more
gizmos? I mean I have used 2000 for a little while and when I look at
2003's
Northwind tables (how I am teaching myself Access) vs the 2000 they
basically
look and act the same to me.
Well, there is certainly some changes from a97 to a2003.
from a97, to a2000 and beyond, you get the next version of VBA. So, there is
a number of extra features in the development language. Most noticeable is a
some functions like split, and also the call by name feature is rather nice.
The other big change is the duel IDE in a2000 and beyond. Some like this,
some don't. However, after using it for some time, I do prefer the split
IDE for forms and code.
And, of course, all kinds of new technologies have been added.
in a2000, you got support for using ADO. (it is a nice data model to use
when connecting to sql server etc). Further, it is a "cleaner" data model
then is DAO. Since ado was added, we had 3 versions, and now ADO
kind of has had it day. So, I guess you did not miss ADO much!
However, a good many VB developers do feel much more at home with
ADO, and it simply was a very welcome addition to ms-access.
Another very neat feature is that you can now create a reocrdset, and then
bind that reocrdset to a form, or even a combo box. And, in a2002, this
ability got a LOT better (you can bind ado or dao reocrdsets from a jet
table, or
even a sql server table and NOT have to use a shaped data provider).
And, in a2002, we got support for XML. In a2003, that XML support got
better. We
also now have the soap add in toolkit. This means that ms-access can now
consume web services (so, while you don't use .net to write ms-access code,
ms-access now can most certainly consume .net web services). There is many
other touches like being able to set the font size in the sql builder (I
wanted that for years..and the newer versions have this feature). Then of
course, there is support for themed controls. This just makes your 'old'
tired forms look a lot newer. Here is some screen shots with themes turned
off, and then turned on:
http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal/Atheme/index.htm
So, if you look over the years, as new technologies from Microsoft came out
(like ADO, or XML), these features are added to ms-access. So, it kind of
has been a nice ride other the years.
Some other new features are (the following is a cut past from a post by John
Viescas))
Propagating field properties
In previous versions of Microsoft Access, whenever you
modified a field's inherited property, you had to manually
modify the property of the corresponding control in each
of the forms and reports. Now, when you modify an
inherited field property in Table design view, Access
displays an option to update the property of all or some
controls that are bound to the field.
Some of the wizards now offter Improved sorting in controls
You can now specify the ascending or descending sort order
of up to four fields in the List Box and Combo Box Wizards
in forms and reports, and the Lookup Wizard in an Access
database. The sort page added to these wizards looks and
behaves like the sort page in the Report Wizard.
Context-based Help in SQL view
In the SQL view of a query in a Microsoft Access database,
you can now get help specific to Jet SQL keywords, VBA
functions, and Access functions. Simply press F1 to bring
up the help that corresponds to the text near the cursor.
You can also search the Jet SQL and VBA function reference
topics.
View information on object dependencies
In Microsoft Office Access 2003, you can view information
on dependencies between database objects. Viewing a list
of objects that use a specific object helps maintain a
database over time and avoid errors related to missing
record sources. For example, the Quarterly Orders query in
the Sales database is no longer needed, but before
deleting it, you might want to find out which other
objects in the database use the query. Then, you could
either change the record source of the dependent objects,
or delete them, before deleting the Quarterly Orders
query. Viewing a complete list of dependent objects helps
you save time and minimize errors.
</quote>
The list is longer then the above. There is also stuff for working with
Share Point services etc.
A file 'backup' option is now available in the main file option (many new
users wonder why no option to make a "copy' of the current database ever
existed...well, now we have this option.
At the end of the day, you kind of have to ask your self what features would
really make you switch. For me, I jumped from a97 to a2003 much because of
themed controls, and also found the a2003 runtime package very nice (it is
the FIRST runtime package I used for ms-access that did NOT requite any sp
updates to office to work well). Even for normal a97 install (or runtime),
you REALLY MUST install the jet35sp3 update, and the sr2b1 for
things to work well, and sleep easy at night.
For a2003, you can install the runtime (or full version) on a new windows
box and not install ANY additional updates for office. This is to me is
amazing. I mean, you should install the updates, but in the bug list of
things fixed, there is really NOTHING of a serous matter if you don't
patch/update. (I going to get a bit of heat for saying you can run things
without having to update office 2003, but this has been the case for
me..and that is amazing!...it just works right out of the box). I can;t
ever remember there being a version of ms-access that you could
just run and not do anything else....
