In my latest series of YouTube videos, I demonstrate how to program Conway’s Game of Life in C#. Although I try to provide as much explanation as I can during the videos, this series is probably best for beginners who already have already gotten their feet wet with things like variables and decision structures. View…
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Cuddling up with Python
In my last post, I talked about getting started with programming and software development and I mentioned that a programming career means continually learning new languages and technologies. In that spirit, one of my goals for 2022 is to finally become proficient with the Python language which I’ve played around with before. I thought I…
“How do I become a computer programmer?”
Spend much time in beginner programming forums and you’ll see many of the same questions again and again from people trying to break into coding. For some of us who just sort of gravitated to the field, it’s a reminder that it doesn’t come as easily for everyone. Sometimes, I feel the urge to send…
New Video Series – Discovering C#
My latest online course on Teachable.com is about getting started with C# programming. Most of my previous video work has centered around Microsoft Access but I’ve produced a couple of other C# videos and, based on the reaction, I decided it was time to do some more with it. I learned how to program many…
Recovering a Corrupted Table in Access With VBA
Recently, a client started experiencing errors, seemingly at random, in the database application I managed for them. The errors immediately started mentioning corruption and then these came through … Error 3167 – Record is Deleted Getting everyone out of the system and running a Compact / Repair seemed to help, but then … “The Microsoft…
How to Shut Down Remote Instances of Microsoft Access
When you’re managing a multi-user Microsoft Access application, there are times when you need all users out of the database so that you can make changes to table structures and other items. Asking everyone to shut down is unreliable and using the Windows Task Manager to forcibly shut down instances of Microsoft Access is risky…
Troubleshooting MS-Access Error 31532 – Unable to export data.
Microsoft Access can sometimes seem to have its own obstinate personality, throwing errors that persist no matter what you try. I wanted to share a recent troubleshooting experience to show some of the steps that you can take when a function is just not working as expected and the decision process involved in fixing it.
Deploying MS-Access Table Design Changes to Remote Files
A New Challenge for Access I designed a Microsoft Access database for one of my clients and it’s split into two files – a front-end file with all the forms, reports and code and a back-end file with the tables. That’s pretty standard. During the development process, I needed to make adjustments to the table…
How to Programmatically Relink Tables in Microsoft Access / VBA
Several years ago, I designed a Microsoft Access application called JobSearch Plus for managing job leads during an employment search. It was a split application, meaning that the tables were stored in one Access file, the back-end, and everything else was in the front-end file with table links to the other one. JobSearch Plus was…
How To Create a Dynamic Search Filter on a Microsoft Access Form
Best practice when retrieving data in Microsoft Access or any database, for that matter, is to limit the amount of data that you pull at any one time. This means using the proper filters and limiting the number of fields retrieved. Often, you still end up with a lot of information to look through anyway.…