Extend Microsoft Access Applications to the Cloud

Andrew Couch has worked with Access since 1992 as a developer, trainer, and consultant. A founder of the UK Access User Group, he has been a Microsoft Access MVP for the past seven years. His Microsoft Press books include Microsoft Access 2013 Plain & Simple and Microsoft Access 2010 VBA Programming Inside Out. He also writes technical articles about Access at www.upsizing.co.uk/TechLibrary.aspx.

Introduction   i
Chapter 1    Finding your way around Office 365   1
Office 365 subscriptions   2
Office products in a browser   5
Getting started with Office 365   5
Team site, personal site, and public site   7
Installing Office Professional   10
OneDrive and OneDrive For Business 2013   13
Creating a web app using a template   19
Opening a web app with Access   23
Saving a web app as a package   24
Uploading a web app package   26
Editing a web app package   30
Displaying a web app in a browser   32
Sharing a web app with external users   32
Creating sites and subsites   36
Creating site collections (Enterprise subscription)   39
Applying a theme   45
Document storage and libraries   47
Microsoft Azure SQL Database, Office 365, and Access   51
App Catalog   53
Summary   55
Chapter 2    Finding your way around Access 2013   57
A new way of building applications   57
Create a custom web app   61
Importing data from Access   62
Using the navigation pane   64
Working with tables, lookups, and relationships   65
Displaying data in a browser   68
Working with different views   71
Controls available in a view   73
Autocomplete control   74
Related items control   75
Subview control   76
Action bar   77
List control   77
Hyperlink control   78
Multiline Text Box control   79
Web Browser control   79
Overview of macro programming and data macros   80
Upgrading and deploying a web app   82
Side-loading a web app   96
Designing and commissioning with existing data   96
Summary   98
Chapter 3    Converting a desktop database to a web app   99
Tables and primary key fields   99
Relationships and lookups   102
Table and field properties   108
Boolean data   112
Value-based lookups   112
Multi-value data   113
Importing different data types   113
Long Text (memo data)   115
Calculated fields   115
Image data type   115
Attachments and OLE objects   115
Reporting   116
References   119
Quick conversion to external writer   120
Attachment and OLE data   121
Uploading multiple files   122
Extracting attachment files   123
Uploading image files   125
Summary   132
Chapter 4    Creating a blank web app and using templates   133
Creating a blank web app   133
Adding template tables   134
Creating a new table   136
Editing the design of a table   137
Creating lookups and relationships   139
Adding indexing   142
Adding validation rules   143
Adding calculated fields   145
Summary   146
Chapter 5    Displaying data in views   149
Customizing the table selector   150
Customizing the view selector   151
Creating a pop-up window interface   152
Datasheet view   156
Views and record sources   164
Duplicating views   167
List Details view   169
Summary view   173
Standalone view   177
Related items control   180
Subview control   182
View controls   186
Combo box control   187
Combo box synchronization   188
Autocomplete control   190
Web browser control   191
Adding color to controls   192
Summary   193
Chapter 6    Creating data sources by using queries   195
Creating basic queries   196
Adding criteria to queries   198
Adding calculations to queries   200
Adding parameters to queries   202
Totals and queries   208
Top value queries   209
Unique values in queries   212
Summary   214
Chapter 7    Programming a web app by using macros   215
Macro-programming capabilities   216
Macro editor and standalone user-interface macros   219
User-interface events for views and controls   222
User-interface macros   227
Named data macros and stored procedures   228
Data macros and triggers   239
Data macro tracing   247
On Start macro   249
Transactions and recursion   250
Indirect recursion   250
Direct recursion   251
Presenting a view for printing   253
Creating a cross-tabulation of data   262
Side-loading a web app   267
On Deploy Macro   274
Using an alias with a macro action   287
Summary   288
Chapter 8    Managing security and a public-facing web app   289
Creating a public website   289
Creating a public-facing web app in Office 365   291
Managing security in a public web app   292
Summary   300
Chapter 9    Looking under the hood at Microsoft Azure SQL ¿Database   301
SQL Server Management Studio   302
ODBC drivers   303
Connecting to Microsoft Azure SQL Database   303
Schemas   308
Security in SSMS   309
Linked Microsoft SharePoint lists   309
Manually creating an ODBC DSN connection   310
Linking from the desktop to use an ODBC connection   317
Creating DSN-less connections with program code   319
Extracting information on relationships   321
Displaying structural information using data access objects   323
Displaying structural information using ADOX   327
Displaying structural information with a query   330
Validation rules   330
Data macros under the hood   331
Views and table-valued functions   336
Summary   338
Chapter 10    Other techniques for reporting   339
Excel and data connections   339
Excel PowerPivot   344
Creating a report for SQL Server Reporting Services   351
Publishing a report to SSRS   360
Linking a web app to an SSRS report   363
Using Visual Studio 2013 with a web app   364
Summary   374
Chapter 11    Using apps for Office with Access   375
Apps for Access concepts   375
Consuming apps for Access   377
Developing apps for Access   381
Summary   386
Index   387