MS Access Stupidities

See also: MSA Annoyances

• http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q304206
• http://www.mvps.org/access/bugs/index.html

• "Missing References" Hell
  • http://www.mvps.org/access/bugs/index.html

• Forms:
  • We are in XXI century, but form styles (available in Form Wizard) are still generated with 16 colors.

• MSA allows users to use any (non latin-1) characters and then they are wondering why their database does not work when on MS Windows with other GUI language. Example cryptic error message:

Users are then forced to find and rename objects by hand to fix the bug. Moreover, MSA itself creates non latin-1 identifiers automatically, e.g. for "Details" identifier - "Szczegóły" in polish. This is example of badly designed core functionality that cannot be patched.

• Flawed sort order for text (MSA version 2000 or newer): dash characters (-) are ommited while sorting. For example the result can be as unexpected as the following:

 aza
 a-z-z
 -zoo

instead of:

 -zoo
 a-z-z
 aza

Comment: this is hidden (not well undocumented) bit of Access' sorting startegy. Moreover '.' or '_' characters are not affected, what looks inconsistent. As a result, there may be invalid query results or reports if user depends on "typical" sorting order.