Sample Applications Download

In addition to the Northwind sample application, which has examples of objects that you can create in your own applications, Microsoft® Access includes two sample applications especially for application developers: Orders and Developer Solutions. These sample applications show many techniques that you can use as you develop your own applications. You can use the examples in Orders and Developer Solutions as templates for forms and reports you want to create, or you can use them for ideas on improving your applications.

Orders   The Orders sample application is a sample order entry and invoicing system. Its features include the ShowEvents form, which helps you see the order in which events occur when you are working with forms and controls, and custom data filtering capabilities that you can use in addition to the filtering functionality provided by Access. The initial chapters of Microsoft Access 2000: Building Applications with Forms and Reports explain how to build the features shown in the sample application.

Developer Solutions   The Developer Solutions sample application contains examples of the forms, reports, and interface elements you most commonly use to create applications. From changing a form’s toolbars in response to events to creating a crosstab report with dynamic column headings, the objects in Developer Solutions illustrate the main areas of application design. This sample application also includes procedures that you might find useful as you develop your own applications—for example, you will find procedures that link tables at startup, close all objects when the user exits the application, and capitalize the first letter of every word in a field.

The steps needed to reproduce the forms and reports are documented in Show Me, the Help system designed specifically for these sample applications. The best way to see what the applications have to offer is to install them and start exploring. The following procedures show you how to get started.

Download Orders and Developer Solutions

Download the Orders and Developer Solutions sample applications (995KB)

When you download these sample applications, the following files are installed in the Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Samples folder on your computer:

Using the Orders Sample Application

To open Orders

1. Start Access.
   
   
2. In the Microsoft Access dialog box, make sure that Open an existing file is selected, and then click OK.
   
   
3. In the Look In box in the Open dialog box, navigate to the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Samples folder, and then double-click Orders.mdb.

   The Orders sample application has settings in the Startup dialog box (Tools menu) that hide the Database window and open the Orders form. To show the Database window after starting the application, press F11. To bypass the startup settings altogether, hold down the SHIFT key when you open the database.

Note   The Orders sample application is designed to work with the Northwind sample application. When you first open the Orders application, you may be prompted for the path to Northwind, which is typically C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Samples\Northwind.mdb. If you don't have the Northwind application, you can install it from the Office 2000 CDs. For more information, see “Installing the Northwind Sample Application” below.

For quick information about the features in the application, click the Show Me button on the toolbar of any form in the Orders application, or press F1.

Using the Developer Solutions Sample Application

To open Developer Solutions

1. Start Access.
   
   
2. In the Microsoft Access dialog box, make sure that Open an existing file is selected, and then click OK.
   
   
3. In the Look In box in the Open dialog box, navigate to the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Samples folder, and then double-click Solutions9.mdb.

   The Developer Solutions form appears automatically and lists all the examples in the sample application by category:

When you open a form or report in Developer Solutions, the Show Me topic for that form or report is automatically displayed if the check box at the bottom of the Developer Solutions form is selected.

If you close the Show Me window, or if you clear the check box on the Developer Solutions form that automatically displays Show Me topics, you can display a topic by either clicking the Show Me button on a form's toolbar, or searching the Help index for the name of the topic.

Note   The Developer Solutions sample application is designed to work with the Northwind sample application. When you first open the Developer Solutions application, you may be prompted for the path to Northwind, which is typically C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Samples\Northwind.mdb. If you don't have the Northwind application, you can install it from the Office 2000 CDs. For more information, see the following section “Installing the Northwind Sample Application.”

Installing the Northwind Sample Application

To install Northwind from Office 2000 or Access 2000 Setup

1. In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs.
   
   
2. On the Install/Uninstall tab, click Microsoft Office 2000 Professional, Microsoft Office 2000 Premium, or Microsoft Access 2000, and then click Add/Remove.
   
   
3. In the Maintenance Mode dialog box, click Add or Remove Features.
   
   
4. Under Microsoft Access for Windows, expand Sample Databases, set Northwind Database to Run from My Computer, and then click Update Now.