On Thursday 23rd November, the UK Access User Group held a live in-person conference hosted at the offices of Gordon Associates in the heart of the iconic Regency district of Montpellier in Cheltenham, UK.
The event was free to all UKAUG members but the location meant that numbers were limited to 20 attendees on this occasion.
Conference Outline
This one-day event included five interesting and varied presentations:
1. Handling Forms & Reports Consistently using Classes:
Adrian Bell discussed how to use class modules to manage your app from within your app.
The talk covered both the setting up of Classes and how to handle class events
2. The Access Layout Grid / Class usage
Many developers remove layout grids in their apps and the majority of the audience rarely use them. Anders Ebro travelled all the way from Denmark and gave compelling reasons for their use, particularly with continuous forms.
3. Managing 32-bit to 64-bit conversion
Peter Cole explained how to identify issues and do bulk conversions of API declarations & type statements for use with 64-bit Access. He demonstrated both the use of his free scanner and his excellent API converter tool.
4. A Lego Database
Described by Anders Ebro as a hobby database to blow your socks off (and make your inner child very happy). This catalogues his (children's) huge collection of over 80,000 Lego bricks, complete with images/numbers of each item and any missing bricks identified. It may sound somewhat 'bonkers' but is clearly a passion for the presenter - this was the unexpected highlight of the day for me! 😏
5. Access’ place in the 21st Century
Peter Bryant discussed interops between Access and a wide range of external data sources including JSON, XML, Graph API, Sharepoint, SQL Azure and more.
Thanks to all the speakers for giving up their time to prepare a wide ranging set of topics.
Prior to the main event, there was a pre-conference discussion late afternoon on November 22nd based around the topic: Planning your retirement and/or succession planning.
Further useful discussion on a wide range of topics followed at a local pub & restaurant that evening!
Many thanks to Peter Bryant, Rod Gordon and Margaret Chamberlain for organising the conference. Also to Rod and Margaret for providing lunch and refreshments on the day.
History
The UK Access User Group was formed in 1995 and for many years had an annual subscription. Part of this covered the costs of the group's annual live conferences and their website. The group also has a very active email list server used both for Q&A threads and for publishing solutions
Recently, the focus changed to online events and membership is now free.
This was the first live event by the group post-COVID and it confirmed that many Access developers are still keen to meet up in person. It is hoped that there will be many more such events in the future, possibly at larger venues.
For more info about UKAUG, visit their website: https://ukaug.co.uk/