Using Access Services with a Sharepoint Website

By: colorado dreamer on 3:37 PM

I did some experimenting with Access Services and Sharepoint (both Office 2010 versions).  What I discovered was just how easy it was to publish an existing Microsoft database, complete with a form and macro events.

I started a blank database and created a very basic table called Products and based a form upon that table.  I set the Display Form and Web Display Form to that new form, ProductsForm

Happy with my form, I followed these steps:

1. on the file tab, click Publish to Assess Services
2.  I entered a URL to my site as the server URL and gave entered the Site Name as OrdersManagement.
3. When I clicked Publish, the new site was created and the database was published.
4. I went to the url /Mysite/OrdersManagement and there was my form. 
5. I entered a record and clicked Save Record.  A message was displayed

6. Returning to my database, I see the record is now in my table

That’s pretty cool.  But our database forms offer a lot of functionality, so I wondered if adding events to my form would translate up to the SharePoint site.  My next experiment involved adding a button on the form and attaching a message box declaring “demo successful!” to the OnClick event.

Before the Sharepoint site can reflect my changes, I need to sync the service.  Do that by clicking the Sync button under the File menu of Access

Returning to mySite/OrdersManagement, I enter a record and click the button.  There’s my message proving this event translates up to the Website. 

 
Encouraged, I go on to add a delete button and attach the delete record command to the onClick event.   Sure enough, this works and as a bonus, Microsoft adds the logic to confirm if a deletion is really desired.