OFF97: Using Automation to Run Microsoft Access

• Microsoft Word 97 for Windows

SUMMARY

Advanced: Requires expert coding, interoperability, and multi-user skills.

This article demonstrates how to use Automation from a Microsoft Office 97 program with Visual Basic for Applications to start Microsoft Access, and then display a new category form from the Northwind Sample database. It also uses Visual Basic for Applications to fill some fields on that form, and then saves the record.

This article assumes that you are familiar with Visual Basic for Applications and creating Microsoft Access programs using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information about Visual Basic for Applications, please refer to your version of "Building Applications with Microsoft Access."

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Solution Provider or the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about Microsoft Certified Solution Providers, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

http://www.microsoft.com/mcsp/

http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/overview/overview.asp

1. In Word 97, create a new document.
   
   -or-
   
   In Microsoft Excel 97, create a new workbook.
   
   -or-
   
   In PowerPoint 97, create a new presentation.



2. On the Tools menu, click Macro, and then click Visual Basic Editor to open the Visual Basic Editor.



3. On the Insert menu, click Module to insert a new module.



4. On the Tools menu, click References.



5. In the Available References box, click Microsoft Access 8.0 Object Library.
   
   If it doesn't appear in the list, click Browse and search for Msacc8.olb, which is installed by default in the Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office folder.



6. Type the following code in the Code window for the module.
   
   NOTE: In the following sample code, an underscore (_) at the end of a line is used as a line-continuation character.




    Public Sub OpenNwindCategoryForm()

      ' Create a variable that will refer to Microsoft Access.
      Dim MyAccessObject As Access.Application
      ' Create variables for file pathing.
      Dim sPsep, DBPath As String

      ' Set DBPath to the path of Northwind database example.
      ' NOTE: Because Microsoft PowerPoint Visual Basic for
      '       Applications does not recognize the PathSeparator
      '       function, check for the program that is running
      '       this routine. For Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel,
      '       use the PathSeparator function.
      If Application.Name <> "Microsoft PowerPoint" Then
         ' The PathSeparator function returns the path separator,
         ' which is Operating System Platform specific.)
         sPsep = Application.PathSeparator
      Else
         ' For Microsoft PowerPoint 97, use the following line of
         ' code for the path separator.
         sPsep = "\"
      End If
      DBPath = Application.Path & sPsep & "Samples" & sPsep _
      & "Northwind.mdb"

      On Error GoTo ErrHandler
      ' Create an instance of the Access application object.
      Set MyAccessObject = CreateObject("Access.Application.8")
      With MyAccessObject
         .OpenCurrentDatabase DBPath  'Opens the Northwind file.
         .DoCmd.OpenForm "Categories"  'Opens the Employees form.
         'Set the caption Property of the form
         .Forms!Categories.Caption = "Test OLE Automation - Add _
            Categories"
         ' Add a new record to the form...
         ' acDataForm and acNewRec are pre-defined constants
         ' within the Access Object Library.
         .DoCmd.GoToRecord acDataForm, "Categories", acNewRec
         ' Set the field Category Name to a value.
         .Forms!Categories.CategoryName = _
          InputBox("Enter a category name", "Category name", _
             "A name")
         ' Set the field Description to a value.
         .Forms!Categories.Description = _
          InputBox("Enter a description", "Description", _
             "A description")
         ' Save the record...
         ' acCmdSaveRecord is a pre-defined constant
         ' within the Access Object Library.
         .DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdSaveRecord
         .Visible = True   ' Maximize Microsoft Access.
      End With
    ErrHandler:      ' < NOTE: This line must be left aligned!
         ' Error handler displays the error message
         ' and then quits the program.
         If Err <> 0 Then
            MsgBox Err.Description, Title:="Test OLE Automation"
            MyAccessObject.Quit   ' Close Microsoft Access.
         End If
         Set MyAccessObject = Nothing ' Set the object variable to
                                      ' nothing

    End Sub 

7. Compile the procedure and make sure there are no errors.



8. On the Run menu, click Run Sub/User Form to run the procedure.

REFERENCES

For more information about using Automation with Microsoft Access from another Microsoft Office program, please see the "Mastering Office 97 Development" compact disc. You can find information about this compact disc on the Microsoft Web page at the following address:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/training/default.asp

Q120802 Office: How to Add/Remove a Single Office Program or Component

automation overview

Additional query words: wordcon inf word8 word97 PgmObj 8.00 8.0 vb vbe vba OLE OFF97 XL97 ACC97 PPT97

Keywords : kbinterop kbprg
Version : WINDOWS:97
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbinfo