NEWUTIL.MDA ver 1.0 - New and Improved MS Access Toolbar


Eric Marlow
Coopers & Lybrand - Technical Advisory Services 
Denver, CO
CompuServe ID - 73444,2544
November 26, 1993


Background

After designing several applications using MS Access, I discovered that many of the 
commands I use on a regular basis were located several levels deep in the menu structure 
(i.e. Aligning Controls on Forms and Reports).  Several authors have attempted to bring 
new functionality to the MS Access toolbar by modifying the MS Access library file 
UTILITY.MDA.  After looking at these revisions, I decided I wanted even more !!

My modifications, located in the file NEWUTIL.MDA are the result.  I started with the 
thought that I could design a "floating icon toolbar palette" such as those that are located in 
the ORDENTRY.MDB and FIRSTLIB.MDA (located on CS) examples.  But this proved to 
be a difficult exercise in understanding Windows APIs (not something I recommend for 
those of us with little time or patience).  NEWUTIL.MDA is a simple modification of 
UTILITY.MDA that utilizes new command buttons which call MS Access Basic functions 
that perform the DoMenuItem command.  The biggest difficulty came in finding the 18 x 18 
BMP files that I could use as button icons (some are good, but if  anyone has others I'd love 
to see them !).


Installation

The ZIP includes the following files:

Files		Purpose
newutil.mda	New toolbar UTILITY for MS Access
readme.txt	This file

Installation

1 - Using a ZIP extractor, decompress the file NEWUTIL.MDA and place it in your MS 
Access directory.
2 - Find the following section in  the MSACCESS.INI file located in the WINDOWS 
subdirectory to include the following:

[Options]
SystemDB=C:\ACCESS11\SYSTEM.MDA
;UtilityDB=C:\ACCESS11\UTILITY.MDA	<= place a ";" at the start to comment out
UtilityDB=C:\ACCESS11\NEWUTIL.MDA	<= add this line

3 - Start MS Access.  You will notice that there are new icons on the MS Access toolbar.  
Most are self-explanatory, but if you have any questions - explore !!  You may notice that 
an error message occurs if you cancel a dialog from one of the new buttons - don't worry, it's 
just a built-in error handling routine.


Legal & Disclaimer

NEWUTIL.MDA is provided "as-is" without warranty of any kind.  The user assumes the 
entire risk as to the accuracy and the use of this Microsoft Access Library Database.

NEWUTIL.MDA may be freely copied and distributed subject to the following conditions: 
1) This document must accompany NEWUTIL.MDA; 2)   NEWUTIL.MDA may not be 
distributed for profit.

You may feel free to modify NEWUTIL.MDA in any way.  For curiosity's sake, my only  
request that I be made aware of any substantial modifications and that I may view the 
revisions.

Any and all comments are appreciated.

Enjoy !!


Eric


P.S.  To any Microsoft employees who take suggestions as to future enhancements of 
Access - Please give us a user-definable toolbar such as those included in MS Word and 
Excel !!