Microsoft Access Readme File
March 2001
© 1992 - 2001, Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

This document provides late-breaking or other information that supplements the Microsoft Access documentation, and is current as of the date above. After that date, you may find more current information and resources on the Microsoft Office Web site, available from the Help menu by clicking Office On The Web. Additional information, including network and administration issues, can be found on the Office Resource Kit Web site at:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/

For further technical information on Access, please search the Microsoft Product Support Services information on the Personal Online Support Web site at:

http://support.microsoft.com/support/

How to use this document

To view the Readme file on-screen, maximize the browser window. To print the Readme file, click the Print button on the toolbar.

Contents

Installing Access
Error message 2355 or Corrupt Cabinet

Working with Access
Genius Assistant character no longer installed
Handwriting recognition may not display on the screen when using certain display settings

Working in Access projects
Batch transactions will not be supported in Access projects
Filtering in an Access Project now uses ANSI-92 syntax
Finding additional information on Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (formerly MSDE)
The Import Exchange/Outlook Wizard does not work correctly in Access projects

Data access pages
Updating data access page connection information may break combo boxes
Updating data access page connection information

Multilingual issues
Access and Indic languages
Mixed language and Unicode support is limited in Access charts
Entering a Hijri date in a view or query may generate errors
Entering a medium date in Thai versions of views or queries may generate errors

International issues
Error messages are displayed in English after installing Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine for certain languages
Using the Northwind Sample Access project and its sample data access pages in international versions of Access

Programmability issues
A number of events and properties documented in Access Help topics are not supported
The ImportXML and ExportXML methods are incorrect in the Access Help topics
MDAC help not available on Windows Millennium Edition systems running Microsoft Office XP

Help issues
Help topic: Create a digital dashboard
Help topic: About digital dashboard and Web Parts
Help topic: Create a Web Part by saving to a digital dashboard folder
Help topic: Turn on or off transparent floating toolbars
Help topic: Column Selection dialog box
Help topic: About securing an Access project
Help topic: Troubleshoot Name AutoCorrect
Help topic: Show current date and time
Help topic: About pop-up forms and reports
Help topic: About getting Help on Visual Basic
Help topic: Install and configure SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine
Help topic: Order of events for database objects
Help topic: OpenReport Action
Help topic: OpenDataAccessPage Action
Help topic: OpenStoredProcedure Action

Installing Access

Error message 2355 or Corrupt Cabinet

If during installation of Access you receive error message number 2355 or the message text "Corrupt Cabinet," update the version of Microsoft Windows Installer on your computer by running the appropriate executable file found on the installation CD. The following assumes that D:\ is your CD drive.

For Windows 2000 D:\FILES\SUPPORT\Q282879.EXE
For Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition (Me) D:\FILES\SUPPORT\INSTMSI.EXE
For Windows NT 4.0 D:\FILES\SUPPORT\INSTMSIW.EXE

After running the file, restart your computer and begin installation again.

Return to Contents

Working with Access

Genius Assistant character no longer installed

Access no longer supports the Genius Assistant character. For those who were using this Office Assistant and who are upgrading from Access 2000, the Assistant will be switched to the default character, Clippit. Upon upgrading, you can select another Assistant by right-clicking the Assistant and then clicking Choose Assistant.

Return to Contents

Handwriting recognition may not display on the screen when using certain display settings

If you are using handwriting recognition to enter text, handwriting may not appear on the screen if your computer's display colors are set to 256 Colors or if the display font size is set to Large Fonts.

Return to Contents

Working in Access projects

Batch transactions will not be supported in Access projects

Access projects (.adp) will not support batch transactions. This feature was removed prior to shipping Access 2002. This removal will affect several Help topics. This feature should be ignored whenever it is encountered in the Help documentation.

Return to Contents

Filtering in an Access Project now uses ANSI-92 syntax

In an Access 2002 project (.adp), filter expressions now use ANSI-92 syntax. In Access 2000, ANSI-89 syntax was used. You should check all your expressions to make sure they are returning the intended results.

For example, if you create an Access 2000 macro expression that searched for CustomerName = ‘B*’, it will no longer find all customer names beginning with the letter B because the asterisk (*) is not an ANSI-92 wildcard character. To resolve this issue, revise the macro expression to use the percent sign (%) wildcard character instead; CustomerName = 'B%'. For more information on the differences between ANSI-89 and ANSI-92 query syntax, see the Help topic Examples of Using Wildcard Characters.

Return to Contents

Finding additional information on Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (formerly MSDE)

For information on changes and updates to the Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (formerly known as MSDE) or its use with Microsoft Access projects, see the Readme file located on the Microsoft Office XP installation CD in the MSDE2000 folder.

Return to Contents

The Import Exchange/Outlook Wizard does not work correctly in Access projects

The Import Exchange/Outlook Wizard does not work correctly when importing Microsoft Outlook data directly into Access projects (.adp). To work around this problem, you can import the Outlook data into a database (.mdb) file and then import the result into your Access project.

Return to Contents

Data access pages

Updating data access page connection information may break combo boxes

If you update the connection information for the Employees or Review Orders data access pages in the Northwind sample database (.mdb) to point to an Access project (.adp) instead, the row source query for the ReportsTo drop-down list box on the Employees page and the Employee drop-down list box on the Review Orders page will be truncated and will generate an error. This occurs because the row source uses a query which contains ampersands (&) to concatenate sections of the expression. Ampersands are acceptable concatenation operators in .mdb files. However, .adp files use T-SQL which requires plus (+) operators for concatenation. Before changing the connection information for the page, you should replace the ampersands in the query with plus operators. For information on modifying the row source of drop-down list and list boxes on data access pages, search the Microsoft Office XP Web site.

Return to Contents

Updating data access page connection information

The steps to update the connection information for data access pages are not available in the Access Help topics and are presented here.

  1. Under Objects in the Database window, click Pages.
  2. Select the data access page and click Design to open the page in Design view.
  3. Click the Field List on the toolbar, right-click the database icon, and then click Connection.
  4. In the Data Link Properties dialog box, click the Provider tab, and then select Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server.
  5. On the Connection tab, enter the following information in the dialog box:

Note  Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine installed on Windows 2000 and NT 4.0 by default requires the use of Windows NT Integrated security.

Return to Contents

Multilingual issues

Access and Indic languages

If you are enabling support for the Indic languages, it is recommended that you choose Indic in the Default version of Microsoft Office list in the Microsoft Office Language Settings (on the Start menu, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Office Tools, and then click Microsoft Office Language Settings).

Access requires Microsoft Windows 2000 or later for Indic language support. Devanagari and Tamil scripts are fully supported with Windows 2000.

General guidelines for using Indic languages in Access

Return to Contents

Mixed language and Unicode support is limited in Access charts

To properly display characters from different languages inside charts in Access, the system codepage must be set to the appropriate character set. Characters that exist only in a Unicode codepage can not be displayed in a chart, regardless of the system codepage setting. A codepage is a list of selected character codes in a certain order. Codepages are defined to support specific languages or groups of languages which share common writing systems. For example, codepage 1253 provides character codes required in the Greek writing system.

Return to Contents

Entering a Hijri date in a view or query may generate errors

When the Use Hijri calendar option is selected in the Tools menu under the International tab of the Options dialog box, you can enter Hijri dates into Access views or queries. However, if the date is formatted as other than a short date, errors will occur and the view or query will not return the expected results. The workaround is to enter the date in short date format (dd/mm/yy) in the query design grid, or enter a long Hijri date manually into the SQL pane of query design view in the following format:

dd mmm yyyy hh:nn:ss AMPM

For example, as 20 شوال 1421 12:00:00:000AM

In addition, running a query containing Hijri dates against SQL Server may return incorrect results if the character set is other than Arabic. The workaround for this is to include an N in front of the date as in the following example:

SELECT * FROM ORDERS WHERE (OrderDate=CONVERT(DATETIME,
N'dd mmm yyyy hh:nn:ss AMPM', 130));

Return to Contents

Entering a medium date in Thai versions of views or queries may generate errors

Entering a medium formatted date (dd-mmm-yyyy) in the Buddhist calendar in Thai versions of Access views or queries may return errors. Additionally, the queries or views may not return the expected results. The workaround is:

Return to Contents

International issues

Error messages are displayed in English after installing Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine for certain languages

Users installing Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (formerly MSDE) alongside an Office XP installation, other than one of the languages shown in the following table, will see Jet database engine error messages displayed in English only. This is because Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine, which contains Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.6 and Jet, is only available in the following languages. For languages not listed below, English MDAC 2.6 and Jet files are included in Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine setup, and will overwrite previously installed localized MDAC 2.5 and Jet files.

Return to Contents

Using the Northwind Sample Access project and its sample data access pages in international versions of Access

International versions of Access projects install an additional set of Northwind sample data access pages (.htm files) specifically for use with the Northwind Access project (.adp) file. Linking these .htm files to a data source on a remote server may result in the loss of some functionality, such as the PivotList and PivotChart data source information. It is recommended that users install a local version of Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine and then install the Northwind Sample Access Project. If you don't have a local server installed and want to connect to a remote server, follow the steps under the heading Updating data access page connection information in the Data Access Pages section of this Readme.

In addition, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine installed on Windows 2000 and NT 4.0 requires the use of Windows NT Integrated security. The data access pages used in international versions of Access projects by default use the System Administrator (sa) logon. To enable these data access pages on Windows 2000 and NT 4.0 computers, you need to follow these steps to change the information to log on:

  1. Open the page in Design view. Click OK in any message boxes that are displayed.
  2. In the field list, click the Page connection properties button. The Data Link Properties dialog is displayed.
  3. Type "(local)" in the server name field.
  4. Activate the Use Windows NT integrated security check box.
  5. Click OK to close the Data Link Properties dialog window.
  6. Close and save the page.

These steps should be performed for all five data access pages included in international versions of Access projects.

Return to Contents

Programmability Issues

A number of events and properties documented in Access Help topics are not supported

The following events and properties are unsupported in Access 2002. The keywords are reserved for future use.

Batch Transaction events and properties

AfterBeginTransaction Event
AfterBeginTransaction Property
AfterCommitTransaction Event
AfterCommitTransaction Property
BatchUpdates Property
BeforeBeginTransaction Event
BeforeBeginTransaction Property
BeforeCommitTransaction Event
BeforeCommitTransaction Property
BeginBatchEdit Event
BeginBatchEdit Property
CommitOnClose Property
CommitOnNavigation Property
RollbackTransaction Event
RollbackTransaction Property
UndoBatchEdit Event
UndoBatchEdit Property

RecordExit events and properties

OnRecordExit Property
RecordExit Event

Return to Contents

The ImportXML and ExportXML methods are incorrect in the Access Help topics

Due to substantial changes in the ImportXML and ExportXML methods in Access after the Help topics were written, the information currently reflected in those topics is incorrect. To find the most current information on the ImportXML and ExportXML methods, search the Microsoft Developers Network (MSDN) Web site.

Return to Contents

MDAC help not available for Windows Millennium Edition systems running Microsoft Office XP

Accessing Help topics for MDAC versions 2.1 and 2.5 requires that the file "ado210.chm" be installed on your system. This file is not installed correctly on Windows Millennium Edition systems using Microsoft Office XP. This file can be downloaded for free from the Microsoft Office XP Web site.

Return to Contents

Help issues

Help topic: Create a digital dashboard

The procedures in this topic for creating digital dashboards from Microsoft Outlook or from the Add Network Place Wizard are incorrect. You cannot create a digital dashboard from either Outlook or the Add Network Place Wizard. If you have Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2001, you can create a personal dashboard on that server by clicking the Create a new personal dashboard link on the server's dashboard site home page, and then following instructions. For more information on how to create a digital dashboard, download the Digital Dashboard Resource Kit (DDRK), which is available on the Microsoft Digital Dashboard Web site at:

http://www.microsoft.com/business/digitaldashboard/

Return to Contents

Help topic: About digital dashboard and Web Parts

This topic incorrectly states that you can create a digital dashboard from Microsoft Outlook or from the Add Network Place Wizard. You cannot create a digital dashboard from either Outlook or the Add Network Place Wizard. If you have Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2001, you can create a personal dashboard on that server by clicking the Create a new personal dashboard link on the server's dashboard site home page, and then following instructions. For more information on how to create a digital dashboard, download the Digital Dashboard Resource Kit (DDRK), which is available on the Microsoft Digital Dashboard Web site at:

http://www.microsoft.com/business/digitaldashboard/

Return to Contents

Help topic: Create a Web Part by saving to a digital dashboard folder

The information in step 1 of this topic is incorrect. You cannot create a digital dashboard from Microsoft Outlook or from the Add Network Place Wizard. If you have Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2001, you can create a personal dashboard on that server by clicking the Create a new personal dashboard link on the server's dashboard site home page, and then following instructions. For more information on how to create a digital dashboard, download the Digital Dashboard Resource Kit (DDRK), which is available on the Microsoft Digital Dashboard Web site at:

http://www.microsoft.com/business/digitaldashboard/

Return to Contents

Help topic: Turn on or off transparent floating toolbars

Disregard this Help topic, which documents a toolbar feature that is not available in Access.

Return to Contents

Help topic: Column Selection dialog box

Change the Help topic sentence as follows:
Current content: This dialog box appears when you point to the Diagram menu, right-click a table and then click Modify Custom View.

New content: This dialog box appears when you point to the Diagram menu, and then click Modify Custom View.

Return to Contents

Help topic: About securing an Access project

A number of proposed features for administering security options in Access projects were removed prior to shipping the product. This change affects the first paragraph (displayed here) of the Help topic which is no longer applicable and should be deleted: From a Microsoft Access project, you can administer basic security tasks by using the Database Security command to add, edit, or delete server logins, database users, and database roles. You must have Microsoft SQL Server installed on the same computer as the Access project for these commands to work.

Return to Contents

Help topic: Troubleshoot Name AutoCorrect

Under the heading Name AutoCorrect doesn't fix errors after I have renamed a database object or a field, add the following item to the bulleted list of references that can't be fixed by Name AutoCorrect:

Return to Contents

Help topic: Show current date and time

Replace the note at the bottom of the topic with the following:

Note   Microsoft Access adds two text boxes, one to show date and another to show time, to the form or report and sets their ControlSource properties to an appropriate expression. If there is a form or report header, Access adds the text boxes to that section. Otherwise, Access adds the text boxes to the detail section. You can move, size, or position the text boxes and set their properties to customize their appearance.

Return to Contents

Help topic: About pop-up forms and reports

Under the heading Modal pop-up forms and reports: custom dialog boxes, replace the first sentence as follows:
Current content: When a modal pop-up form or report is open, you can't access any other objects or menu commands unless you hide or close the form or report.

New content: When a modal pop-up form or report is open in a view other than Layout Preview, you can't access any other objects or menu commands unless you close the form or report.

Return to Contents

Help topic: About getting Help on Visual Basic

Under the bulleted item Use the Contents tabs, replace the first sentence as follows:
Current content: Click the Contents tab, and then double-click the Programming Information book to see the categories of reference information, such as actions, events, functions, objects and collections, methods, properties, and statements.

New content: Click the Contents tab, and then double-click the Programming in Access book to see the categories of reference information, such as actions, events, functions, objects and collections, methods, properties, and statements.

Return to Contents

Help topic: Install and configure SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine

Under the heading Customizing the installation, append the following options to the existing table:

Setting Description
USEDEFAULTSAPWD Specifies that setup assign the default password (NULL) to the SA login.
SAPASSWORD="sa_password" Specifies that setup assign a password to the SA login. When /i is specified, you must specify either /USEDEFAULTSAPWD or /SAPASSWORD, but not both.
SECURITYMODE=SQL Specifies that the instance of SQL Server uses Mixed-Mode security when installed on Microsoft Windows NT and Microsoft Windows 2000 systems instead of only using Integrated Security.

Return to Contents

Help topic: Order of events for database objects

Under the heading Moving the focus to records and updating data in records, revise the second sentence as follows:
Current content: When you leave the record whose data has changed, but before you enter the next record, the Exit and LostFocus events occur for the control with the focus. These events occur after the BeforeUpdate and AfterUpdate events for the form, as follows:
BeforeUpdate (form) > AfterUpdate (form) > Exit (control) > LostFocus (control) > RecordExit (form) > Current (form)

New content: When you leave the record whose data has changed, but before you enter the next record, the Exit and LostFocus events occur for the control with the focus. These events occur after the BeforeUpdate and AfterUpdate events for the form, as follows:
BeforeUpdate (form) > AfterUpdate (form) > Exit (control) > LostFocus (control) > Current (form)

Also under the heading Moving the focus to records and updating data in records, revise the third bulleted item as follows:
Current content: Move the focus to another record:
BeforeUpdate (form) > AfterUpdate (form) > Exit (control) > LostFocus (control) > RecordExit (form) > Current (form)

New content: Move the focus to another record:
BeforeUpdate (form) > AfterUpdate (form) > Exit (control) > LostFocus (control) > Current (form)

Return to Contents

Help topic: OpenReport Action

Replace the two existing table entries with the following:

 
Filter Name A filter that restricts the report's records. You can enter the name of either an existing query or a filter that was saved as a query. However, the query must include all the fields in the report you are opening or have its OutputAllFields property set to Yes. This argument is ignored when the View argument is set to Design, even if the next action is the OpenReport action that opens the report for printing or previewing.
Where Condition A valid SQL WHERE clause (without the word WHERE) or expression that Access uses to select records from the report's underlying table or query. If you select a filter with the Filter Name argument, Access applies this WHERE clause to the results of the filter. This argument is ignored when the View argument is set to Design, even if the next action is the OpenReport action that opens the report for printing or previewing.

Return to Contents

Help topic: OpenDataAccessPage Action

Change the Help topic sentence as follows:
Current content: To run the OpenDataAccessPage action in Microsoft Visual Basic, use the OpenView method of the DoCmd object.

New content: To run the OpenDataAccessPage action in Microsoft Visual Basic, use the OpenDataAccessPage method of the DoCmd object.

Return to Contents

Help topic: OpenStoredProcedure Action

Change the Help topic sentence as follows:
Current content: To run the OpenStoredProcedure action in Microsoft Visual Basic, use the OpenView method of the DoCmd object.

New content: To run the OpenStoredProcedure action in Microsoft Visual Basic, use the OpenStoredProcedure method of the DoCmd object.

Return to Contents