DoCmd.SendObject and CDO

[dalski]

You know more than me Sonic8, & I'm pleased to hear your optimistic outlook, Access is a brilliant app, I pray it continues to be so. It just seems like they are reducing it's power to use other applications is my amateur perception.

 

[isladogs]

The change to Outlook equally affects all other Office apps such as Excel, Word and PowerPoint. As @sonic8 made clear, the effectiveness of Access itself is not being diminished.

 

[dalski]

Thanks, but the beauty of Access is also it's ability to control other apps also; is it not? Let alone the Microsoft suite. I'm not trying to be argumentative at all; merely debating. My knowledge is pale in comparison to you guys. I'm just trying to understand is all.
From a learner's perspective it seems it's getting harder to do so?

 

[Minty]

I think the effect is far more noticeable / undesirable within the Access ecosphere we inhabit, as developers we tend to leverage the ability to control Outlook a lot more than a majority of traditional users of of Word, Excel and PowerPoint do.

In my experience, even complex spreadsheet "apps" very rarely utilise the available email functionality.

 

[sonic8]

@dalski, if I would saw off the head of your hammer, does it reduce *your* ability to use a hammer?
No, it just reduces the capability of the hammer.

 

[RonPaii]

Agreed, great observation! I wonder how many Access apps broke as a result of the changes made to Outlook? And what were the reasons for MS changing it?

Not only Office apps but thousands of other programs that utilize COM with Outlook to send email.

 

[isladogs]

Thanks, but the beauty of Access is also it's ability to control other apps also; is it not? Let alone the Microsoft suite. I'm not trying to be argumentative at all; merely debating. My knowledge is pale in comparison to you guys. I'm just trying to understand is all.
From a learner's perspective it seems it's getting harder to do so?

To hammer home the point (deliberate reuse of the analogy), MS is discontinuing the VBA enabled Publisher app from the Office suite in 2026.
Whilst a few users will be disappointed by that decision, that can't be described as reducing the effectiveness of Access.

I'm wondering if MS knew the impact of making the change. They must've had a strong reason, like security, for making the change.

The problem with Outlook is that over the years MS have created multiple versions of the app, all with very different code bases. This is inefficient and wasteful in terms of development costs. To simplify this down to a single codebase makes good sense. The fact that they've chosen to remove VBA / COM is unfortunately deeply regrettable but not just for Access developers

 

[dalski]

Removing integration with Outlook does not reduce the effectiveness of Access?

I agree, I cannot see how one can say Access is not loosing it's effectiveness; used to allow functionality of scores of apps, now it can no longer control any other apps, just Access itself - oh it's still as good though . Sounds argumentative & I do not mean it to, but reading the other day again an adapter being discontinued on this forum. This paints a dark picture for the future of Access I think.

 

[isladogs]

You are both suggesting that functionality is being removed from Access itself (as in the great feature cull of A2013). That is not the case.
Changes to external apps will indeed impact Access together with Excel etc. That is absolutely true but its not due to any changes in Access itself.
Please read the reply by @sonic8 in post #32 again carefully.

 

[dalski]

Nr 31:

Some say that MS Access is still in development & going strong - then I read articles like this & it is clear to me that the effectiveness of the application is being greatly diminished.

Nr 33:

You know more than me Sonic8, & I'm pleased to hear your optimistic outlook, Access is a brilliant app, I pray it continues to be so. It just seems like they are reducing it's power to use other applications is my amateur perception.

Nr 35:

Thanks, but the beauty of Access is also it's ability to control other apps also; is it not? Let alone the Microsoft suite. I'm not trying to be argumentative at all; merely debating. My knowledge is pale in comparison to you guys. I'm just trying to understand is all.
From a learner's perspective it seems it's getting harder to do so?

Nr44:

I agree, I cannot see how one can say Access is not loosing it's effectiveness; used to allow functionality of scores of apps, now it can no longer control any other apps, just Access itself - oh it's still as good though . Sounds argumentative & I do not mean it to, but reading the other day again an adapter being discontinued on this forum. This paints a dark picture for the future of Access I think.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

You are both suggesting that functionality is being removed from Access itself (as in the great feature cull of A2013). That is not the case.
Changes to external apps will indeed impact Access together with Excel etc. That is absolutely true but its not due to any changes in Access itself.
Please read the reply by @sonic8 in post #32 again carefully.

I don't think I've said that at all, I've said the external usefulness of the application, but you reinforce my concern yet further by yet another decrease in external functionality of Access 'feature cull of A2013' .

 

[GPGeorge]

Some people see a glass and say, "It's half-full."

Some people see a glass and say, "It's half-empty."

Some people see a glass and say, "Microsoft stole half my water."

 

[isladogs]

@dalski
If I’ve inadvertently reinforced any concerns you have then my post had the opposite effect to that intended.

Twelve years ago when Access 2013 was released, it was notable for removing several features without providing viable alternatives. Most were little used but there was a lot of justified criticism, particularly with regard to the removal of Pivot Charts and support for linked DBase tables. DBase table support was later reinstated in A2019

Since A2013, the Access team has gone out of its way not to remove older features, even if little used or a replacement exists e.g. classic charts were retained when modern charts were added.

Over the past few years, many new and improved Access features have been added and there will be more in the coming months. Access is still being actively developed

For a detailed timeline of Access features by version, see my article:

A Trip Down Memory Lane

This article reviews the main changes in Access features and appearance from its first release in 1992 through to the current day.

isladogs.co.uk

 

[RonPaii]

Nr 31:


Nr 33:


Nr 35:


Nr44:


________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I don't think I've said that at all, I've said the external usefulness of the application, but you reinforce my concern yet further by yet another decrease in external functionality of Access 'feature cull of A2013' .

With Office apps being pushed to the cloud, it not surprising that COM is being removed.

Maria Barnes sample Graph code combined with the new Edge control, makes MS Graph Graph usable in Access. I have played with it, the biggest hurdle for my needs is large attachments and adding OneDrive and SharePoint links.

I am kind or surprised that a Outlook emulating COM wrapper to for Graph doesn't exist.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

SharePoint is known to work reasonably well with Access. OneDrive - as currently configured - will not. OneDrive uses incompatible protocols that don't work well with Access. OneDrive uses whole-file-transfer protocols. Access uses Server Message Block (SMB) for selective file updates. OneDrive's locking scheme should shut down shared-update ability, whereas SMB preserves it. Shared-write access is CRUCIAL to the stability and ability of Access. OneDrive will work SOME of the time but totally not reliably.

 

[dalski]

For a detailed timeline of Access features by version, see my article:

A Trip Down Memory Lane

This article reviews the main changes in Access features and appearance from its first release in 1992 through to the current day.

isladogs.co.uk

Thanks that's interesting; I was enjoying your Security challenges the other day, have not managed to complete one yet. Terrified I've spent a year learning an obsolete tool so that's a comforting read.

 

[isladogs]

I've spent almost 30 years learning Access and I'm still finding things to learn
I expect to be obsolete before Access is.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

seems headed for irrelevancy.

The worst case of that I ever saw happened during my college years. There was a company that had software running on an IBM 650, but they stopped making those. Fortunately, IBM came up with a 650 emulator for the IBM 1620 Mk II, so the company transferred to that. A few years later the 1620 went by the wayside, but the IBM 7090 came around with a 1620 Mk II emulator. So they bought their 7090 and the emulator for the 1620, after which they loaded up the 650 emulator. Time passed and the 7090 started to fall away. So they found a 7090 emulator that would run on an IBM 360/50. You guessed it... another layer of emulation. The crazy part is that since each machine was significantly faster than its predecessor, the execution speed of that old 650 program was acceptable while they worked to upgrade the code to straight-up 360/50 code. I'm sure that Pat Hartman could tell you some horror stories about COBOL programs still in use at various "modern" businesses.