ACC97: References to Set When Working with Microsoft Access

• Microsoft Access 97

SUMMARY

Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

This article lists the references that you must set when you are working with databases that you create in Microsoft Access or when you access information from Microsoft Access databases from other applications.

The following topics are covered in this article:

• Microsoft Access 97 Object Library References Set by Default
• Microsoft Office 8.0 Object Library Reference Included in the Package
• Setting a Reference to Other Applications
• Setting a Reference to DAO for Different Versions of Microsoft Access
• Setting a Reference to DAO for Other Applications That Use Microsoft Access

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft Access includes several components, each of which supplies its own set of objects. The component's object library contains information about the component's objects and their properties and methods. The objects are available to Microsoft Access only if a reference exists for the objects in the Available References list box in the References box on the Tools menu.

Microsoft Access 97 Object Library References Set by Default

The following object libraries are set by default when you install Microsoft Access 97:

• The Microsoft Access 8.0 Object Library (MSACC8.OLB)

  The following objects and collections are found in the Microsoft Access 8.0 Object Library:

      - Application object
      - Form object
      - Forms collection
      - Report object
      - Reports collection
      - Control object
      - Controls collection
      - Module object
      - Modules collection
      - Reference object
      - References collection
      - DoCmd object
      - Screen object
  

• The Visual Basic for Applications Object Library (VBA332.dll)

  The following objects are found in the Visual Basic for Applications Object Library:

      - Debug object
      - Err object
      - Collection object
  

• The Microsoft DAO 3.5 Object Library (DAO350.dll)

  The following objects and collections are found in the DAO object library:

      - DBEngine object
      - Workspace object and Workspaces collections
      - Error object and Errors collection
      - Database object and Databases collection
      - TableDef object and TableDefs collection
      - Field object and Fields collection
      - Index object and Indexes collection
      - QueryDef object and QueryDefs collection
      - Parameter object and Parameters collection
      - Relation object and Relations collection
      - Recordset object and Recordsets collection
      - Group object and Groups collections
      - User object and Users collection
      - Container object and Containers collection
      - Document object and Documents collection
      - Properties collection
  

  NOTE: In order to ease the conversion of applications that use older objects, methods, and properties, the DAO350.dll file contains two type libraries. They are:

       DAO 2.5 type library   (DAO2532.tlb)
       DAO 3.5 type library   (DAO2535.tlb)
  
     These type libraries define the properties and methods that DAO can
     use. The DAO 2.5 type library is backward compatible with earlier
     versions of the Microsoft Jet database engine and supports all previous
     objects, methods, and properties. Use this type library if you want
     existing DAO code to work with Microsoft Jet database engine 3.0 or 3.5
     without conversion.
  
     The DAO 3.5 type library removes support for obsolete objects,
     methods, and properties. Because they are not supported, use of these
     constructs while the DAO 3.5 type library is in use causes compile
     errors in your code.
  
  

Microsoft Office 8.0 Object Library Reference Included in the Package

Microsoft Access 97 also includes the Microsoft Office 8.0 Object Library. This is included for users who want to work with objects provided by Microsoft Office.

• The Microsoft Office 8.0 Object Library (MS097.DLL)

  The following objects are found in the Office 8.0 Object Library:

      - CommandBar object
      - FileSearch object
      - Assistant object
  

Setting a Reference to other applications

You can also set references to object libraries supplied by other applications or components when you want to use objects in those libraries for Automation operations in Microsoft Access. The following list gives some of the applications and the object libraries that you can reference.

  Application                     Reference
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Microsoft Excel 97 objects      MS Excel 8.0 Object Library (EXCEL8.olb)
  Microsoft Word 97 objects       MS Word 8.0 Object Library (MSWORD8.olb)
  Microsoft Office Binder control MS Binder 8.0 Object Library (MSBDR8.olb)
  Microsoft Graph 5.0             MS Graph 5.0 Object Library (GREN50.olb)
  Microsoft Graph 8.0             MS Graph 8.0 Object Library (GRAPH8.olb)

Setting a Reference to DAO for different versions of Microsoft Access

If you have more than one version of Microsoft Access on your computer, you may need to reference different versions of the Microsoft DAO Object Library. The following list gives the version of the application and the version of DAO that you should use.

 Version of Microsoft Access        Version(s) of DAO
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

 Microsoft Access 1.0               Microsoft DAO 2.5/3.0 Compatibility

 Microsoft Access 1.1               Microsoft DAO 2.5/3.0 Compatibility

 Microsoft Access 2.0               Microsoft DAO 2.5/.3.0 Compatibility

 Microsoft Access 7.0               Microsoft DAO 3.0 Object Library

 Microsoft Access 97                Microsoft DAO 3.5 Object Library

Setting a Reference to DAO for Other Applications That Use Microsoft Access

If you are using other applications that communicate with different versions of Microsoft Access, ensure that the version of DAO in the application you are using can communicate with the version of DAO in your version of Microsoft Access. The following list gives the version of DAO in other applications.

 Application                        DAO
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

 Visual Basic 4.0 (16-bit)          Microsoft DAO 2.5/3.0 Compatibility
 Visual Basic 4.0 (32-bit)          Microsoft DAO 3.0 Object Library
 Visual Basic 5.0                   Microsoft DAO 3.5 Object Library
 Microsoft Excel 97                 Microsoft DAO 3.5 Object Library
 Microsoft Word 97                  Microsoft DAO 3.5 Object Library
 Microsoft Project 4.1              Microsoft DAO 3.0 Object Library
 Microsoft Project 95               Microsoft DAO 3.0 Object Library
 Microsoft IIS 3.0                  Microsoft DAO 3.5 Object Library

REFERENCES

For more information about references, search the Help Index for "References collection," or ask the Microsoft Access 97 Office Assistant.