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msaccess-vcs-integration

Synchronize your Access Forms, Macros, Modules, Queries, and Reports with a version control system.

This code is built and tested on Microsoft Access 2010. It will probably work in earlier versions, but YMMV.

The Microsoft Access code module in this project provides functions to export and import all of your Access objects to plain text files so that you can use a version control tool to track changes in these objects. For Access objects which are normally exported in UCS-2-little-endian encoding , the included module automatically converts to the source code to and from UTF-8 encoding during export/import; this is to ensure that you don't have trouble branching, merging, and comparing in tools such as Mercurial which treat any file containing 0x00 bytes as a non-diffable binary file.

This README shows how to synchronize all application code objects from an Access application with a source control system such as Mercurial or Git. (The provided import/export module is agnostic about the actual source control system you use.)

Included in the export/import:

  • Queries
  • Forms
  • Reports
  • Macros
  • Modules
  • Tables

By default, no Tables are exported. You must specify which tables to include in the export/import process. For example you might have "Countries" or "Colors" tables that populate dropdown lists. You shouldn't include regular data tables containing actual records, because this data doesn't belong in version control.

Not included in the export/import:

  • Customized toolbars, toolbar items, and menu items
  • Any external files
  • Pretty much anything that is not accessible by browsing the design, properties, and code of a Query, Form, Report, Macro, or Module object.

For the purposes of these instructions, assume your database is called Application.accdb and it is stored in ~/MyProject.

Installing the Integration Scripts

  1. Load AppCodeImportExport.bas into a new module in your database with that exact name.
  2. Edit your AppCodeImportExport and change the constant INCLUDE_TABLES to list any lookup tables that function more as part of your application code than as client data. (For example, "Countries", "Colors", and things like that.)
  3. Copy the scripts folder as a child of ~/MyProject .

First Commit to Your Source Control System

  1. Create a repository in your ~/MyProject folder.
  2. Compact and Repair Application.accdb and zip it to Application.zip using the Send to Compressed Folder command in Windows Explorer.
  3. Using your repository's tools, set the repository to ignore any accdb and laccdb files, and then add and commit the zipped Access binary file Application.zip as well as the scripts folder. Use a commit message like "Initial commit of [name] at version [number]."
  4. Open the application, hit CTRL-G, and run the following VB code in the Immediate window: "ExportAllSource". Dismiss the popup command prompt window when it's done, and wait for the Immediate window to say the export job is "Done."
  5. Using your repository's tools, add and commit all the new files that were created in the source folder under ~/MyProject . Use a commit message like "Initial commit of all source code for [name] at version [number]".
  6. Publish your repository to your preferred central sharing location.

Committing New Progress and Pulling Changes from Other Developers

  1. Open the application, hit CTRL-G, and run the following VB code in the Immediate window: "ExportAllSource". Wait for the Immediate window to say the export job is "Done."
  2. Using your repository's tools, commit all the new files that were created in the source folder under ~/MyProject . Use an appropriate commit message to describe your changes.
  3. Pull new upstream changes (if any exist) from your central sharing location used by all developers. If necessary address any merge conflicts using your repository's merge and conflict resolution tools. If any work was done in this step, commit these changes to your local repository as well.
  4. Push all local and merged changes back to the central sharing location.
  5. Go back into the Access Immediate window (CTRL-G) and run the following VB code: "ImportAllSource". Wait for the Immediate window to say the export job is "Done."

Committing a New "Release" of Your Project

  1. There may be application changes that aren't covered in the source code for Forms, Macros, Modules, Queries, and Reports. To make sure these changes are recorded, Compact and Repair Application.accdb and zip it to Application.zip (replacing the old copy) using the Send to Compressed Folder command in Windows Explorer. Commit the new Application.zip to your repository with a commit message like "Full application binary for release [number]".
  2. Follow the usual steps in the previous section "Committing New Progress".
  3. Use your repository's "tag" function to tag your last commit with the release number/name.

Caveats

  • If you make any changes to the script used in this process, the AppCodeImportExport module, they will not be automatically imported when any developer runs the ImportAllSource method. The code skips this file because it causes a conflict when trying to update a module that is actively being executed.
  • The import and export code does not handle deleted objects. When you notice that a developer upstream has pushed a change that deletes an Access object, you must manually delete that object in your own copy of the database file, and be sure it's not exported again and re-added to the repository.