Total Access Detective Product Guide

Thank you for your interest in Total Access Detective. FMS is pleased to provide you with this Product Guide to assist in your evaluation of this exciting member of the FMS family of integrated development products. The contents of this document are organized as follows:

Contents

• Introducing Total Access Detective
• Key Features and Benefits
• Total Access Detective Quick Start
• General Information
• Rave Reviews
• Conclusion
• About FMS

Additional documentation is included with the Total Access Detective product, including a printed User’s Guide and full online help.

Introducing Total Access Detective

Total Access Detective is an object comparison wizard for Microsoft Access databases. Use it to determine exactly what is different between two objects in one database or between two databases.

This is particularly useful when you need to compare two different versions of your database, or databases in multi-developer environments. Every field, control, property, macro line, line of code, etc. is compared and differences are shown. There are even options to compare data in tables, permission settings, relationships, and library references.

The Problem

As the most popular database program on the PC, Microsoft Access databases are used for interactive analysis and a wide variety of sophisticated applications. Over time and as more people or locations are involved, situations arise where it is imperative to know exactly what’s different between any two databases or any two objects within a database.

This can include the need to understand what changed between versions, what’s different between user and developer copies, changes made by multiple developers, or even the same developer’s home/laptop version vs. “official” version.

The large number of things that can change make it extremely difficult to manually determine exactly what changed. Modifications include adding and deleting objects, changing macro and module code, modifying the layout and properties of forms and reports, updating queries, and changing table structure and data.

By not knowing exactly what changed, it is very easy to overwrite another user or developer's changes, undo bug fixes, lose data, or cause enough damage to make an application crash.

The Total Access Detective Solution

Total Access Detective addresses these issues with a comprehensive, automated tool to reveal all the differences between:

• Any two databases

• Any two objects in one database

Designed specifically for Microsoft Access, Total Access Detective works directly within Access. To compare two objects in one database, simply open the database and launch Total Access Detective as an Access add-in. To compare two databases, open the Total Access Detective database and point to your two databases. A wizard interface makes it easy to choose the objects and type of comparison to perform.

The results reveal every single difference between the selected objects including properties, controls, code, settings, fields, and even data. Results can be viewed or printed. Quickly and easily understand what changed so you can resolve the differences.

Two time winner of the Access Advisor Reader’s Choice Award for “Best Debugging Tool and Testing Tool,” Total Access Detective is an important utility for every serious Access user or developer. By knowing the differences, fixes can be quickly implemented, and costly (and painful) overwrites of existing work can be avoided.

Key Features and Benefits

Total Access Detective detects differences between any two objects in one database or differences between two databases.

Two Object Comparison Overview

The Total Access Detective Object Comparison feature compares two objects in the same database. Simply open your database with the objects to compare, and launch Total Access Detective from the Add-ins menu.

• Compare any two tables, queries, forms, reports, data access pages, macros, modules, or command bars in an Access MDB database.
• Compare any two Access objects such as forms, reports, data access pages, macros, modules, and command bars in an Access Data Project (ADP).
• Perform a line-by-line comparison on any two blocks of text.

Two Database Comparison Overview

Total Access Detective also allows you to compare two databases using the Database Comparison feature. Open the Total Access Detective database from the Windows Start menu, and select the two databases to compare.

• Quick analysis is performed to determine objects that exist in one database but not the other (ideal for flagging new or deleted objects).
• A list of identically named objects in both databases is presented to be selected for detailed analysis.
• Detailed analysis is performed on all the selected objects, and the results are presented in forms that can be viewed on screen or in professionally formatted reports.
• Options are available to compare database level information (including security permissions, table relationships, library references, and database properties).

Object Differences Detected

Extremely detailed analysis is performed to compare a selected pair of objects. The examination is based on the type of object compared:

Tables

• Structural differences, including new, renamed, or deleted fields.
• Changes to field properties, including data type and size, description, validation rules, default values, input masks, etc.
• Index names, fields, and properties.
• New, modified, or deleted records (for un-keyed tables, the first differing record is listed).

Queries

• Modified SQL strings, query type, parameters, and other properties.
• Query fields and field properties.

Forms

• Form level properties, including record source and filters.
• New, modified, and deleted controls.
• Properties of identically named controls and sections.

Reports

• Report level properties, including record source and filters.
• Sections and groupings.
• New, modified, and deleted controls.
• Properties of identically named controls, sections, and groupings.

Data Access Pages

• HTML and data source.

Macros

• Sub-macros (named macros) in one macro but not the other.
• Line-by-line comparison of command lines including arguments, conditions, and comments.
• Identically named sub-macros.
  Macro comparison is performed using an intelligent comparison algorithm that detects added or deleted blocks of lines, so it doesn't just flag every subsequent line after it encounters the first difference.

Modules

• Procedures in one module but not the other.
• Optionally ignore indentations.
• Line-by-line comparison for identically named procedures.
  Module comparison is performed using an intelligent comparison algorithm that detects added or deleted blocks of lines. Only the block of code that differs is flagged to make it easy to see what changed.

Command Bars

• Controls on one command bar but not the other.
• Differences in actions between identically named controls.

Common Uses for Total Access Detective

• Multiple developer environments where merging changes to the same database can overwrite someone’s work.
• Deployed applications, where you need to know what an end-user “enhanced” in his/her database. This can include new queries and reports, and changes to data and lookup tables.
• End-users and power-users who want to know what changed between the current database and an older (backup) database.
• Modifications made to a database on your laptop (or a copy at home) that need to be applied to the “master” copy in the office.
• Documentation of all the changes between versions of a database.
• Documentation of all the changes in a database over a period of time (“this is the work I did over the past week”).
• Examining all differences between a pair of objects (for example, to determine if reports or macros that are basically the same and could be merged into one).
• Text comparison to verify identical code or blocks of text. This is especially useful for comparing code across different databases, database versions, or other VB/VBA hosts.

Upgrading from Previous Versions

Just as you can have multiple versions of Access on the same machine, you can have older versions of Total Access Detective running on the same machine at the same time. Just install the versions in different directories. If you have the 2003 version, you can use it with Access 2003 to compare databases in Access 2000 or 2002/2003 format.

If you have an earlier version of Total Access Detective, visit our New Feature page to see the list of enhancements.

Total Access Detective Quick Start

A standard setup program is included. Just follow the steps and point to the directory you where you want to install the program.

Running the Program

Total Access Detective runs in two different modes. Choose the mode based on whether you want to compare two objects in the same database, or two different databases.

Comparing Two Objects in One Database

From Access, open the database with the objects you want to compare, then launch Total Access Detective from the Tools, Add-ins menu. The Comparison Wizard appears:

You can specify the object type to compare from the drop down list:

Select the two object names, and press the [Do Comparison] button to perform the comparison.

The results of the object comparison are shown in a tabular format, and can be printed/previewed or exported to a table in your database.

This form shows the results of comparing two objects, in this case, two forms. Easily see the differences at the Form level, and controls that exist in one form, but not the other:

When comparing tables with identical structure (same field names and data types), you can find differences in table data as well:

This form lists every record that is different between the two tables including new or deleted records. For modified records, the fields that differ and their values are shown.

Total Access Detective even allows you to combine the data from the tables that you compared into a new table with a variety of options:

For module and macro comparisons, all code differences are shown. For macros, any procedures that exist in one database but not the other are also shown:

Text Comparison

The Total Access Detective Object Comparison wizard also includes a Text Comparison feature. Press the [Compare Text] button from the main form to enter the two blocks of text to compare. You can use the clipboard to paste the text or retrieve it from a file.

If you check the “Treat as Code” check box, Total Access Detective compares the text as VB/VBA module code and performs the analysis you need to easily understand the differences. Procedures in one module and not the other are listed, and code in identically named procedures compared.

This is similar to comparing two modules in a database, but this feature does not require the text to be in a module. This is particularly helpful if you are comparing two modules that may have name space conflicts if they were stored in the same database, or code that doesn't compile.

Two Database Comparison

To compare two databases, open the Total Access Detective database from the Windows Start menu:

Database Comparison Main Menu

Due to limitations within Access, to compare modules, command bars, or library references, a preparation step is necessary before comparing databases. To prepare a database for comparing these objects, open the database and select Total Access Detective Prepare from the Add-ins menu.

From the Database Comparison Main Menu screen, select the [Generate] button and choose the databases to compare:

Press [Next>], and Total Access Detective retrieves a list of identically named objects. Select one or all the objects for detailed comparison:

You can also retrieve a list of objects that exist in one database but not the other under the [Unmatched Objects] button. These are the objects that were added, deleted, or renamed.

After selecting the objects to compare, press [Next>] to specify the comparison options:

A final confirmation screen appears. Press [Finish] to generate the analysis. When it’s done, you can view the results under the [View & Print] button from the main screen:

The results are organized into these categories:

• Object Differences
  Property and control differences for all the selected objects.

• Data Differences
  Differences in table data.

• Module and Macro Differences
  Differences in lines of code.

• Unmatched Objects
  Objects in one database, but not the other (new, deleted, or renamed objects).

• Errors
  Objects that could not be opened or analyzed (e.g. locked or corrupt).

• Print
  A variety of reports that can be previewed or printed:

Here are examples of all the Access comparison reports.

General Information

System Requirements

Total Access Detective has the following system requirements:

• Any operating system and hardware that supports Access
• 10 MB free disk space for installation (additional space is needed to store your documentation).
• The Access version that corresponds to the version of Total Access Detective
• Screen resolution of 800 x 600 or higher.

Product Packaging and Technical Support

Total Access Detective includes a CD with the object comparison add-in, the two database comparison program, and on-line help. A 94 page professionally printed user manual is also included describing the program, its features, and options.

Technical support is provided for free and is available by phone, fax, email, and through our newsgroups.

Pricing and Licensing

Total Access Detective Pricing for Access
Licenses 2003 2002 2000 97
	Single	$199	$199	$199	$199
	5 Seat	$599	$599	$599	$599
	Upgrade Single	$119	$119	$119	$119
	Upgrade 5 Seat	$349	$349	$349	$349
Upgrade from .0 to .5 within the same version
	Single	N/A	$69	$69	N/A
	5 Seat	N/A	$199	$199	N/A
Premium Support Subscription
	Single License		$299	$299	$299
	5 Seat License		$999	$999	$999
	More Information
Also Available as part of:
	Total Access Ultimate Suite
	Total Access Developer Suite
Runtime/Redistributable Version
Not Available/Applicable
Licensing Information
Total Access Detective is licensed on a per developer basis. Each user of the program must have a license. Read the License Agreement for details.

Availability

FMS products are available directly from FMS or most corporate resellers. FMS also has international dealers in many countries.

Rave Reviews

Here are what some leading Access experts and gurus have to say about Total Access Detective:

“Total Access Detective is well worth every penny, it will quickly pay for itself through savings in time and effort.”
- Tom Cryan, Denver Access User Group product review

“This awesome development tool lets you track differences between database versions…I highly recommend Total Access Detective, particularly if your work involves making changes over a period of time.”
Thomas Wagner, Access Advisor product review

“This add-in will save you many hours of difficulty when managing any Access application with multiple developers”
Michael Gunderloy, Smart Access product review

Conclusion

Microsoft Access databases are used and enhanced everyday. Ultimately, almost all users and developers need to know what changed between copies or two points in time.

Total Access Detective is the only Access database comparison program on the market today, and has won several industry awards since its original release for Access 2.0 in 1995. It’s truly a godsend when you really need to know what changed between objects or databases. Each Access object has so many properties and design options that it’s virtually impossible to manually view and compare all differences between them.

By trying to reconcile changes without an automated tool, you risk losing the time-consuming changes that users or developers have made. With an easy-to-use, interactive interface, Total Access Detective increases the productivity of Access users, and eliminates the headaches associated with reconciling and understanding changes. We think you’ll agree it’s a must-have tool every serious Access user and developer should own.

We invite you to put the product through its paces, and contact us if we can provide any additional assistance in evaluating Total Access Detective.

About FMS

Founded in 1986, FMS is a privately-held, Virginia based firm and the world’s leading developer of tools for the Microsoft Access community. With tens of thousands of customers in over 100 countries, FMS customers include 90 of the Fortune 100, all US government departments, plus many other organizations and individual developers.

Known for their quality and power, FMS products are winners of numerous industry awards including every “Best Access Add-in” award since 1994. All FMS products are developed by internal staff and undergo a rigorous quality assurance and beta testing process. Our people include world-recognized experts in the Microsoft Access, Visual Basic, and VBA fields, and Microsoft MVP recipients, Microsoft Certified Professionals, book authors, and speakers at industry conferences throughout the US and Europe.