ADP based on MS Exchange - it's an SQL Server, right? (1 Viewer)

[Abiart]

Hi all,

First of all I hope this question is relevant to this part of the forum, I thought this was the best place to put it, but my ignorance of the subject may mean it ends up being more closely related to one of the other areas.

I'm struggling with some statistical reporting on Email Enquiries, which I'm currently doing manually using Advanced Find in the Outlook Public Folders and putting counts into an Excel spreadsheet. I find the whole thing quite ackward (as you might imagine), and the Advanced Find in Outlook frustrates me as it can be quite limiting.

What I'd like to do is set up an Access Data Project as a front-end for the Exchange folders concerned. I'm pretty well versed in MDB's but I've never set up an ADP before. I assume this is possible as I'm under the impression that MS Exchange is basically an SQL Server database. Is this correct? Will I be able to configure it using the Wizard that appears when I create a new ADP (if given permission by the MS Exchange Admin)?

Thanks for your help.

Abby

 

[Pat Hartman]

I doubt that you can use an .adp for this. You can't link tables to an .adp. Just use a regular .mdb and choose Exchange() as the data source when you link.

The .adp is being phased out. No new features are being added and it is quite far behind the .mdb as far as usability goes. It will still be supported in A2007 but it may not be able to create SQL 2005 databases although it will still be able to use databases that already exist.

 

[Abiart]

Thanks, Pat, for your helpful response.

Regarding linking a table in a .mdb to Exchange: I'd like to be able to specify which fields are created in the linked table. It doesn't look like this is possible as I'm not given an option to set this by the Get External Data wizard. It has just imported Keywords, Importance, Message Class, Has Attachment, From, Subject and Received. I need the Categories field as well.

If I were to set up the linked table using code would I have any more flexibility?

Thanks again for your help.

Abby

 

[Pat Hartman]

I have never tried to set up a connection manually. If you can see the database and have appropriate access authority, you should be able to do what you want.