Microsoft Access 2002

With this new version, Access users can link Data Access Pages or other database files to SQL Server services without the need to perform any programming. In fact, many projects in Access can be handled with minimal or no coding required. A variety of helpful wizards walk you through the steps of creating different types of project databases.

Although it uses a new format for its database files, Access 2002 can open and edit Access 2000 files without converting them to the new format. Access 2002 also allows new databases to be saved in earlier Access formats, making them easier to share with users of earlier versions of Access. When converting older Access files to 2002, Access keeps track of any problems in an error log, making it easier to solve problems as they occur.

New features on the design side include expanded undo and redo functions, which let users move back and forth through more changes when creating reports, forms, and Data Access Pages. There are also a variety of new keyboard shortcuts, including ones that allow users to move easily from one view to another. Access 2002 also includes speech support for dictation and menu navigation via voice commands (with surprisingly high accuracy).

Database tables and charts can now be expressed using PivotChart and PivotTable, two new dynamic and interactive views, just by dragging fields to the appropriate area within Access or selecting the option from the View menu. PivotChart and PivotTable expressions can also be saved as Data Access Pages for viewing via the Web. Tables and charts can also be converted to an Excel spreadsheet format simply by dragging the information to Excel.

Microsoft Access 2002 isn't a leaps-and-bounds improvement over Access 2000. But the bevy of new features--including XML support, PivotChart and PivotTable views, and Data Access Page creation--make it an appealing upgrade for the database designer. --J. Curtis

Amazon.com Product Description
Microsoft Access 2002 provides the tools to build solutions that integrate and leverage Internet standards to better allow for the sharing and presentation of data across the Internet and intranet. Access 2002 lets you integrate data sources across the enterprise. In an integrated application environment, business applications communicate seamlessly with one another. One of the key goals of Access 2002 is to provide an integrated application environment, which enables users to perform query and analysis of enterprise data sources from the familiar, easy-to-use Office interface. The new technologies and features of Access 2002 help businesses be more agile by enabling users to unlock the power of the organization's data. Using Access 2002, corporations can build data-driven business solutions quickly and deploy those applications into the environment that their end-users are using every day.

Access 2002 features conditional formatting, which provides support for negative and positive numbers, and values that can be expressed as less than, greater than, between, or equal to. In addition, users will be able to format based on user-defined functions. Based on the value, the user can set font, styles, banners, and colors. Name AutoCorrect automatically resolves the common side effects that occur when a user renames a database object. For example, when a user renames a field in a table, the change is automatically propagated to dependent objects such as queries and forms so the user can continue to work with the application. Convert databases to prior access version. Access users can now down-rev save a database into a previous version of Access, making it easier to share database files with users of different versions. In Access 2002, the database window was changed to accommodate the new objects exposed in Access 2002, enhancing usability and consistency with the new user interface metaphor used throughout Office XP. Subdatasheets provide a picture-in-picture view to focus on and edit related data all in the same window. Additionally, users can now export data from Microsoft Access to Microsoft Excel simply by dragging and dropping Access objects (tables, queries, etc.) from the database container to Microsoft Excel. This allows a fast way to export data into Excel quickly for further analysis.

Product Description
Microsoft Access 2002 . Whether you are creating a database for personal use, departmental use, or an entire organization, Microsoft Access 2002 offers a set of tools rich enough for the most experienced database developer, yet accessible enough for first-time users. By incorporating the innovations of Office XP, as well as introducing productivity and collaboration features such as the Data Access Page Designer and XML support, Access 2002 helps you store, organize, and share your data, so you and your team can make better decisions.

But that's not where it ends. You aren't limited to to the Jet DB. In fact, depending on available drivers (often if not always freely available) you can use almost any database system, SQL systems included. When one says SQL systems, they are often speaking of client server type systems like proprietary Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and Sybase, to name a few, or the open source systems like MySQL and PostgreSQL, again, to name but two. These SQL systems are what one needs to build scalable applications that will host many users and hundreds of thousands or more table records. You can use Access to prototype the app, and then often use the Access development environment as the front end for building forms and reports for SQL data. Many using this type of system have great praise for Access.

The other way to use Access is to use it as a complete solution. Here, you are limited, but serious Access pros will say many limitations can be handled with the right design and/or coding. That may be true, but if you are developing for many users and anticipate a large database, Access as a complete solution is probably a bit out of its league. On the other hand, Access is great for desktop database functions. If a small, or even mid-sized firm needs for example, a contact management system that no off the shelf software allows, Access would be a good idea. If you are currently using Microsoft Excel for a database system, Access would perform the tasks much better, and once you get familiar with database design and terminology, the learning curve for reports and queries over Excel isn't that great. Excel is great for calculations and spreadsheets, but comes up a bit short on being a database.

Access was sort of a joked about product when it first came out. But that was when desktop systems designed in Clipper or FoxPro ruled. Once Access started to mature, its user base expanded as Windows apps took over. Now, with SQL databases being the trend, Access front ends are still put to use. Access isn't quite as good an app as Excel, which is in my mind the best application Microsoft has ever developed. However, with the serious bugs in Word, and the shortcomings of Outlook, Access is narrowing the gap with Excel as a really good application that a lot of people need that there are few competitors to.


Excellent for entry level, front end systems   April 16, 2003
 6 out of 7 found this review helpful

This is an excellent entry level database for Windows platforms - very flexible and easy to learn. Also, this makes for one of the best front-end applications for Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server, etc. Microsoft's continued improvements in VBA in Access allow you to create very powerful data entry and data management solutions.


An excellant desktop product for data collection and review   July 26, 2002
 2 out of 11 found this review helpful

Have only used Microsoft Access 2000 Office version and would be interested in acquiring MS Access 97 or 2000 for home use.


Great Windows product; many ease of use enhancements.   April 26, 2002
 23 out of 23 found this review helpful

Let's face it: as a cross-platform tool or large system database Access won't cut it as it comes out of the box, but if you are looking for something to create a pretty cool application for a windows platform, Access can't be beat. The database is flawless, string manipulation is easy, and designing the GUI is a breeze if you have done your up-front work (like giving the fields a meaningful text description).

The latest version, Access 2002 comes with improved wizards that are actually helpful. I created a small application in a day with just this product and the help text. It did not require much code (4 navigation macros that anyone with basic programing skills could write). We also flawlessly moved this application to a Windows 2000 server running IIS for an intranet.

Don't expect the best response time from Access 2002. A web query through what is called a "data access" page takes about 30 seconds on a 200,000 record file on a server with half a gig of memory and no other applications running.

Some of the other ease of use enhancements are better button control and improved macro coding, easier navigation throughout the product and improved help text with step by step procedures on how to create specific examples.


Improved Application   April 28, 2001
 25 out of 33 found this review helpful

Improves PivotTable and PivotChart support; adds multilevel undo and redo in Data Access Page; increases keyboard shortcuts; provides better support for multilingual databases. In Access 2002, Microsoft has updated the file format yet again, sure to causee graning among the Access 97 faithful. But Access 2002 can open and modify Access 2000 databases without applying the new file format, which is a small concession at best. Access 2002 interacts with the new SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (formerly MSDE) for creating more scalable apllications and supports two-way XML support.