Document Your AccessDatabase With Visual Basic

Presented byJoseph J. Sarna Jr.JJS Systems, LLC

Documentation Is a Necessary Evil!

Does the client require documentation? What do follow-on developers need to

know about your application? What do YOU need to know six months

from now?

Types of Documentation

We need to provide:– Database documentation– File format documentation– Registry entry documentation– Project and code documentation

Database Documentation

Tables– Field names, data types, descriptions, valid

data ranges, etc.

Views/Queries/Stored Procedures– Definitions and SQL strings

File Formats Documentation

Layouts of any special file types used– XML schema – Ini file formats– Application specific files

Registry Entries Documentation

Locations and purposes of all registry entries

Location and purposes of all Active Directory interactions (additions if users, roles, groups, etc.)

Do not need to include entries made by Setup program

Project & Code Documentation

Directory structures of files Reporting formats Technical specifications Code procedures

Using Visual Basic to Generate Database Documentation

DBDoc.vbp– By Tim Patrick, from Visual Basic

Programmers Journal, July 2001 - http://www.vbstyleguide.com/

– This application reads the database structures of tables using ADO and ADOX and then writes the document to an HTML file.

– Modified by J. Sarna to include Views/Queries

ADO Object Models

Three object models of ADO provide the functionality found in DAO. – ADO – Microsoft ADO Extensions for DDL and Security (ADOX)– Microsoft Jet and Replication Objects (JRO).

mk:@MSITStore:C:\Microsoft Visual Studio\MSDN\2001JUL\1033\techart.chm::/html/daotoado.

htm

ADO and ADOX

The ADO model allows access and manipulation of data through any OLE DB provider

The ADOX model contains objects for data definition (such as tables, views, and indexes) and creating and modifying users and groups.

With ADOX, one can control database schema and grant and revoke permissions on objects to users and groups

DBDoc Example Code

C:\Visual Basic Projects\DBDoc\DBDoc.vbp

Add a reference to Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects 2.5 Library.

Add a reference to Microsoft ADO Ext. 2.5 for DDL and Security.

Closing

Document your project for your own safety!

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