Third Party Add Ins

Some of you will have heard of Add-Ins and know exactly what I am talking about, others will have no idea. I hope this week’s Newsletter will help those that fit into the latter category.

First of all; what is an Add-In?

An Add-In is as it says, it is something you can add to your Microsoft® Access database to make it more functional. This can either be something that will be used in the end product or to help you (as a database developer) develop your database. I will be stepping you through how to download and add an Add-In, in this week’s Lesson. The Add-In we will be using will be from Questica. Many thanks to Russell Sinclair for allowing me to use this Add-In for this tip.

The first thing you will need to do is Download the Add-In. Therefore, go to the following site:

Questica Query Dependencies Download

While that is downloading (it may take a few minutes), I will explain what this particular Add-In does:

“The Questica Query Dependency tool allows Microsoft® Access developers, and users, to view and work with the dependencies of queries in a Jet database. Two modes are included: Dependencies and References. The Dependencies dialog shows you the hierarchical dependencies for a stored query, showing the entire tree of queries and tables that are used by a query. The References dialog shows all stored queries that reference a query or table.”

This is a great tool as it enables you to view the hierarchy of your queries. As an example, you may have a query, which is based on another query, which is based on another query, which is based on yet another query. This Add-In enables you to view all the queries and tables that underlie that particular query. This is the dependencies dialog.

The reference dialog references every query the table or query has been utilised for in the database.

As this Add-In has been distributed with a SetUp.exe, you will not need to register it or add it via your Com Add-In on the toolbar. You may need to do this for other Add-Ins, but not for this one.

Once you have finished downloading the setup.exe file (you will find it in C:\Downloads), run the setup.exe file to install the Add-In. Just follow the wizard, accepting all the defaults, and reading and agreeing to the terms and conditions.

Now, open a Microsoft Access database and right click on a query. Then, click on ‘References’ or ‘Dependencies’ to view the appropriate one.

Very useful, would you not agree?

If you do find this tool useful, then a donation to Questica, I am sure, would be appreciated.

If you come across an error indicating the following "Cannot Include Memo, OLE or Hyperlink Object When You Select Unique Values", the fault is with the Jet database (Microsoft Access) and you will need to download a patch from Microsoft to fix it. The following articles will explain, and provide you with, the patch to download to fix the Microsoft problem:

Information regarding the error

Download site for Jet Update 9X OS

Instructions for obtaining the update

Now, this is only one example of the millions of Add-Ins that are available. Just be careful with Add-Ins, as not all of them are compatible with Microsoft Access.

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