Access: We're getting there...

So curious as i was i started beta testing Office 2010. I heard many good things about this version. I spent most of my time in Microsoft Access so that would be the first one to take a closer look at. I knew that the Office button wouldn't be around anymore so that was no suprise. Finding 'backstage' instead felt more intuitive for me looking like the old 'File' menu. So starting Access to see what i heard about it was actually as cool as it sounded. In the next couple of posts i'll be looking into some of the added features in Access 2010. I'll describe them as I go along.

Parameter in query
Everyone uses this frequently; the parameter in a query. Often you have to refer to a control on a form or subform to use what the user typed in as the parameter for your query. If you have been around a while you know that this action always ends up as a copy paste action hoping that you didn't make any typo's the first time.

While i was creating my parameter query something popped up during this progress. Wow did I see that correctly or are my eyes deceiving me? Did a dropdown menu just appeared when i added the exclamation mark? Yes it did. I couldn't help cheering for a short moment. Yes this is what we are looking for, this is what make life easy.
Now my only hope would be that all those options i have been dreaming about will eventually make it through to the next versions.

creating the query parameter...

Making your wishes known
Many people i talk to have the tendancy to think that the developers of Microsoft don't care or listen to their comments. I dare to disagree.. there are many options that have been implemented just because the testers and users do post there wishes to newsgroups, blogs, beta groups etc.
You need one more example? Ok how about the recently used file option where you can 'pin' your documents and sheets in Word and Excel. So quiz question... Was this option available in 2007 for Access. Answer no. I made the suggestion via Microsoft Connect to also add this feature to Access and why not... every other office app had it. And now see what happend!

My next wish?

I've been praying for a magnifying option in
form designview for a couple of versions now and it hasn't been implemented yet. Well just keep posting my wish.. maybe next version! Some day we'll get there ;-)