July 2008

For Microsoft Access, SQL Server,
Visual Studio .NET, and VB6 Professionals

Hi Everyone!

On June 27th, we were delighted to host 48 members of the Access community at the Microsoft offices in Reston, Virginia. In additional to locals, we were pleasantly surprised some participants came from Michigan, Texas, and Tennessee to see us. Steve Clark and I spoke about How Access Fits in Organizations and Upsizing Access Applications to SQL Server to an enthusiastic crowd, and were pleased to mingle among the participants during the breaks and over lunch.

It's always wonderful to learn about the applications and the important work people are doing with Access, SQL Server, .NET, and SharePoint. This was our first seminar co-sponsored by the local Microsoft office, and based on the enthusiastic response, we look forward to hosting more of these events in the future. If there are topics you'd like us to cover, please let us know.

Luke Chung
President

CONTENTS

• Product Feature: Total Access Statistics
• Technical Paper: Microsoft Access Query Tips and Techniques
• Total Visual CodeTools 2007 Update
• Tip for SQL: Create an Automated Backup of your SQL Server Express Database
• Tip for Internet: Microsoft Social Bookmarks
• Tip for SQL: Improve performance of Procedures by using SET NOCOUNT ON
• Recent Activity from our Professional Solutions Group
• Special Offer for MSDN Premium Subscriptions

RESOURCES

• Home
• Demos
• Newsgroups
• Book Recommendations
• Technical Papers
• Training Videos

PRODUCT FEATURE: TOTAL ACCESS STATISTICS

Microsoft Access queries offer rudimentary data analysis. For more advanced computations and real number crunching, programming is required, sometimes lots of it, or you need to export your data to another program. Designed specifically for Microsoft Access, Total Access Statistics runs as an Access add-in and offers a wide range of statistical functions to analyze your data. Easily perform data normalization, rankings, percentiles, frequency distributions, correlations, confidence intervals, regressions, ANOVA, and much more. Create your analysis interactively, see the results in tables, and use the programmatic interface to embed it in your applications.

Total Access Statistics is available in versions for Access 97 through 2007. For more information on all our upcoming Access 2007 related products, visit Schedule for Access 2007

TECHNICAL PAPER: MICROSOFT ACCESS QUERY TIPS AND TECHNIQUES

Mastering the use of queries in Access will significantly increase your understanding of your data and simplify application development.

Our popular technical paper on Access Query Tips and Techniques is revised with information and examples using Access 2007 and an updated sample database.

From the basics of queries to powerful ways of integrating the VBA. this detailed document will help you manage and analyze your data more efficiently.

Learn More

TOTAL VISUAL CODETOOLS 2007 UPDATE

Total Visual CodeTools 2007 is our productivity tool for developers writing VB6 and VBA code from Office 2000 to 2007. Through its code builders, code cleanup, code delivery, and code analysis, you'll quickly write better code, deliver more robust solutions, and standardize any code you inherit.

As part of our commitment to providing quality software, FMS has create a new update for Total Visual CodeTools 2007 (version 12.00.0084).

This update is available free of charge to registered owners of Total Visual CodeTools 2007, version 12.0. Notification and download instructions for receiving the patch were emailed to all registered owners. If you did not receive these instructions, please contact us so we can update your information.

SQL TIP: CREATE AN AUTOMATED BACKUP OF YOUR SQL SERVER EXPRESS DATABASE

Have you ever attempted to setup an automated backup of your SQL Server Express database server, only to discover that the handy job scheduler maintenance options that you are accustomed to using with the full version of SQL Server are not available with the express edition? After a brief search of Google, you may have noticed that others have managed to implement this procedure, but they either ended up purchasing a 3rd party product or they are using the less than ideal practice of pausing the SQL Server Service in order to create a backup copy of the MDF and LDF files (this works, but it is not ideal in most cases because the SQL Server is offline while the service is paused – an option that may be ok for some servers, but for other servers that must be live on a 24/7 basis, this is not a solution).

Read More

INTERNET TIP: MICROSOFT SOCIAL BOOKMARKS

How often do you move from one computer to another only to find your bookmarks didn’t move with you? How often do you email or IM a link to a colleague? There has to be a better way, and Microsoft has come up with Microsoft Social Bookmarks to ease some of that pain. With this new free service, you can create an account (or use your existing Microsoft Live address) and manage bookmarks.

Read More

SQL TIP: IMPROVE PERFORMANCE OF STORED PROCEDURES BY USING SET NOCOUNT ON

When executing a Transact-SQL statement, the number of ‘rows affected’ is returned by default. As an example, execute the following in SQL Analyzer:

Use Pubs
Update authors
Set Contract = 1
WHERE State = 'KS'

When this query is executed, the messages pane displays:

(1 row(s) affected)

Find Out More

RECENT ACTIVITY FROM OUR PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS GROUP

Since 1986, FMS has been a leader in developing custom solutions for organizations throughout the world. Our track record and longevity gives us a unique perspective in the industry.

Last month, the consulting team presented a Microsoft Access to SQL Upsizing seminar where we shared tips, tricks and valuable information regarding upsizing Access application to SQL Server. Resources on this topic can be found at our Microsoft Access to SQL Server Upsizing Center.

Here are some custom database solutions we recently provided to our clients:

• Enhanced a custom .Net Event Management Application to include process driven automation that allows our client to greatly improve accuracy and efficiency within their organization.
• Enhanced a Logistical Planning web application to improve accuracy and performance within the application.

Contact us to learn more about how our Professional Solutions Group can help you with a Risk Free Assessment.

SPECIAL OFFER FOR MSDN PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTIONS

FMS is pleased to offer a two year MSDN Premium Subscription for an amazing price. This includes Visual Studio .NET 2008 and the entire line of Microsoft operating systems, server software, Office, and other business related software, plus support. If you're a professional developer, you need to be a subscriber.

Best of all, you can get a two year subscription for practically the same price as a one year subscription (US and Canada addresses only). Details

Thank you for your continued interest in FMS, Inc.
We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,
Your Friends at FMS