Differences In Access Versions

[Frank]

Hi,
I am in an environment using varying versions of MS
Access, and am in need of a document that explains the
variances between the versions (Access97 vs. Access2000
vs. Access2002 vs. Access2003) so that I can understand my
limitations in database development as well as providing a
basis for version standardization (new version
justification).

Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Frank

 

[Allen Browne]

The major difference in Access 2000 and later relate to JET 4. Summary of
these:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;275561&Product=acc2000

Access 2000 and later also include a throttled version of SQL Server if you
want to play with that:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;322703&Product=acc2000

New features in Acess 2002:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;295358&Product=acc

In A2003:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;823089&Product=acc2003

Highlights and top issues of each version:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;acc&Product=acc

In practical terms, A2000 and later have a different coding environment (VB
IDE), and a monolithic save. Most useful new event is Form_Undo, so you can
return the form to its previous state. New collections (such as AllForms and
Printers).

Microsoft did not upgrade the DAO library to handle the new JET 4 features,
so most of them do not work in the interface and can only be used throuh
ADO/ADOX code - a learning curve!

There are also many new bugs to become aware of:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~allenbrowne/tips.html#flaws

 

[Guest]

Thanks Allen,
The bugs link is very helpful for a sanity check ,
however the links listed for "Highlights and Top Issues"
relate specifically to "support", as opposed
to "functionality". I'm having to use Acess97 now, after
years of 2000/2003, and I'd really like to know what
functionality I'm losing (for example, changes to a table
name don't flow down to forms/reports that use that
field...ouch). Others?? That could be my basis for a
strong push to upgrade (difficult in the large company
that I'm in).

Thanks,
Frank

 

[Allen Browne]

Hi Frank

To be completely honest, there is very little that has been introduced since
A97 that actually works and is useful in a JET database.

In many cases, you are actually worse off because it takes longer to do the
same job, there are more bugs, and *much* more you have to learn before you
can get on top of all the problem issues. Here's a dozen examples:

1. The Name AutoCorrect example you gave does not work reliably. It is
buggy, incomplete, and a performance nightmare. (The object dependencies
depends on this.)

2. The losely cobbled-together Access and VBA windows cause versioning
problems if you have different versions of Access open at the same time. The
monolithic save is slower and less functional.

3. Most of the new JET 4 features are not supported in DAO, often not even
in the user interface.

4. The new Decimal field type is flawed, cannot sort properly, and causes
imports/exports to fail.

5. Operations can fail if Record-level locking is on and the attached tables
are A97.

6. The ADO library provides less functionality than DAO, so you need ADOX as
well, and ADOX is so buggy and incomplete as to be unusable.

7. When Windows XP themes are active, controls can flicker whenever the
mouse moves, and the metrics are wrong so basic things like dragging with
the mouse sometimes do not work.

8. Table linking caches additional information that causes performance
problems when the tables are relinked.

9. Default properties have changed, so you have to manually turn off
AllowZeroLength every time you create a text field in a table, disable the
SubDataSheetName every time you create a table, set AllowDesignChanges every
time you create a form, etc.

10. The security model in A2003 is a nightmare, forcing developers to pay
annual fees for certificates if they can get them.

11. Conditional formmatting is useful, but has its own bugs.

12. All the bugs that were present in A97 remain unfixed: crashes with
subqueries, problems with filters, incorrectly displayed data, etc.

So for something new, useful in JET that actually works, the Undo event of
the Form is all that comes to mind.

(BTW, we have not mentioned all the extra bugs that you will hit if you
don't have the latest service packs, such as corrupting a database by
importing code, non-unique autonumbers, objects going out of scope, etc.,
etc.)

 

[Rick Brandt]

Hi Frank

To be completely honest, there is very little that has been introduced since
A97 that actually works and is useful in a JET database.

The phrase "jumped the shark" comes to mind