Access 2013 is a revolutionary step forward, and the challenge in this book has been to offer you a fresh look at the desktop database (because that part of Access has not changed in this version), while also introducing you to the new Web App.
In writing the book, I decided to offer you the new Web App experience in the first two chapters, because when you start Access, the default choice is to create a database using a Web App.
For many years, Access users have been looking for a way to get their databases onto the web, and although Access has gone through several supportive technologies, such as Data Access Pages and, in Access 2010, Web Databases, this has only now matured to a point where we can see a great path ahead. It is my pleasure to give you the first glimpse of what this new technology promises.
A Web App is hosted either in a Microsoft Office 365 Plan (which includes Office 2013 Professional) or in your organization’s Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Server running Access Services, so to work through those sections in the book, you will need this facility. If you are unable to get involved with moving your database to the web, I am sure that many of the other topics will provide a stimulating and fresh look at Access.
When getting started in developing a Web App, you can either take advantage of built-in table templates or import existing data from familiar data sources.
A Web App addresses several important problems when it comes to developing a browser-based interface. The first problem is getting started, and here Access will create for you at least two browser views of your data for each table.
The first is a list view, which displays a searchable list of records linked to areas that then display both the detailed contents of the records and any related records. A Web App has a wonderfully natural drill-down capability to take you to related data. The second view is the datasheet. Access will automatically create one for you, and you can then add more datasheets for a table to provide additional views of your data. You will notice that I use the term view. You can think of a view as being the same as a form in desktop database technology.
Another key feature of a Web App is that when you need a drop-down list of choices, Access traditionally uses combo or list boxes, but these are very inefficient to use in a browser. The new Auto Complete control allows you to type information and then uses pattern matching to show a reduced list of related choices.
When you edit data in a Web App Datasheet view, you will have the same desktop experience of interacting with a list of data records on the desktop. However, when you work with other views, you will use the new Action Bar to edit and save your changes. Other great new features in a Web App are the ability to summarize data, and the Web App’s ability to automatically provide a vertical table selector and horizontal view selector for navigating your data.
When you save data in a Web App on Office 365, the data behind the scenes is saved inside a SQL Azure database in the cloud, so you can exploit all the scalable technologies of the very latest in Microsoft online storage.
The following older features in Access have been removed from the latest version:
■ Access Data Projects (ADP)
■ Pivot charts and pivot tables
■ Replication
■ Upsizing Wizard
■ Source code control
■ Support for Access 97 databases
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