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Automatic document creation. How?

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Renegade:
My point is: don't blame Access the tool, but rather the person who uses it inappropriately (aka the non-professional tyro) or the inappropriate contexts it sometimes is offered for (bad consultant).
-JohnFredC (June 13, 2011, 08:05 PM)
--- End quote ---

+1

Access does very well what it does. It's the abuse of it, or using it for the wrong things that creates problems.

Oh... I have a hammer... Give me that screw~! :P

superboyac:
Thanks John Fred!  Don't go anywhere!  I'm going to give Access a whirl with this, and I'm going to need you around... :up:

40hz:
I actually don't mind MSAccess for small group projects. It works very well in the contexts it was designed for.

I still much preferred FoxPro's development environment for small and mid-small database projects. But Microsoft never really seemed to know what to do with "the Fox" after they acquired it, other than make it as invisible as possible - and legally forbid the use of the fox runtime under Wine in Linux.

Now Fox is in phase-out mode (VFP-9) despite a very active developer/user community. I understand it's currently flagged 'end-of-life' and slated to become unsupported starting in 2015.

There's also been numerous requests for Microsoft to open source the code since they're abandoning their adopted baby on the mountainside. Unfortunately, last I heard, Microsoft (in their inimitable "dog in the hayloft" fashion) has refused to do so - and has given every indication it never will happen. Shame.

superboyac:
fox...dog...hayloft.  40, you are classic!

steeladept:
I am personally a big fan of "personal" databases such as Access.  Way too often, the likes of Oracle, et. al. are just too big and too cost prohibitive, not to mention too difficult for untrained people to bother.  MySQL is better in some respects, but still takes way too long to create a small database.  On the other hand, I do hate the SQL Query structure they use, simply because it is non-standard.  It is close, but doesn't work with anything else (well maybe T-SQL based systems, never tried those...).  If that were addressed in Access (or a competing product that was otherwise equal), I would find it ideal. 

Even so, my biggest problem with getting rid of Access is the simple fact that if you do, the already proliferate use of Excel as a database would multiply.  Even users who should know better (read DBA's) will create impossibly complex spreadsheets because it is still infinitely easier than creating a small database in their current structure.  They ignore that a simple small database solution already exists in Access. 

Getting back to the OP: If (and with VBA that is a BIG IF) you find Access does almost everything but can't, for some reason, do something that would otherwise make it perfect, you may want to check out a similar small database I have been playing around with lately.  It is Alpha Five.  I can't speak to if it is any good or not, I only started playing around with it, but it may do what you want.

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