This step-by-step tutorial shows you how to work with the new data type, attachments, in MS Access 2007.

Some background information

Attachments in Access 2007 replace the OLEDB data type of the older versions. However the OLEDB data type is continued for backward compatibility. Access 2007, of course, only allows the creation of the new data type.

One of the rules of relational database design is that columns can store only a single value, a reason why first name and last name are stored in separate columns. Attachments seem to break the rule since it can store multiple pieces of data. It appears that a lot of work has gone into Access 2007 not to break relational data design and yet store multiple items by working behind the scenes using the System tables effectively.

Important attachment related information

·         The maximum size of an attached data piece cannot be larger than 256Mb

·         Adding, deleting, and editing of the attached items is only possible through an Attachments dialog box.

·         In the design of Forms and Reports there is new item in the toolbox: the Attachment control (looks like a paper clip). This control may be used at design time.

·         Editing an attachment is possible if the program used for creating the attachment is available on the local computer. The program will edit the attachment and when it is saved the attachment gets saved to its own field.

·         Access will compress uncompressed files in the attachments before storing them.

·         Attachments may originate from any location on the disk drive or the network.

·         VBA can be used to work with attachments programmatically using the new Attachment Object. It has several properties and methods, and it supports events.

Creating a table with an attachment column

A table named DesignAttach will be created in a blank MS Access 2007 database application called Attach07. It is created with a default table, Table1 as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

You can create a new table from the Create tab on the ribbon by clicking on the Table Icon on the far left. This opens a table in datasheet view, very much like Table1 above.  You can save the table by right clicking the Table1 tab above the datasheet view and choosing Save. You will be asked to give a name to the table. In this example, DesignAttach was given as the name of the table.

From the View menu item you can change to the design view as shown Figure 2. The ID field was changed to EmployeeID with the data type, AutoNumber. For the second column, the field was named EmpName with the data type set to Text.  In the field properties section you can set the Field size and other field attributes as shown. In Access 2007 you will immediately see the property sheet of the table on the right. This is presented as a separate screen shot in Figure 3.

Figure 2

Figure 3

A few other fields have been added to our example as shown In Figure 4. The last one being EmpResumePhoto field with the data type, Attachment. You can pick the data type from the drop-down in any row of the Data Type column in the design. A caption of ResumeWithPhoto was added to the field. The design view now shows all the columns in the table.

Figure 4

 

When you try to close the design view you will be asked to save design changes as in Figure 5.

Figure 5

Populating the first row of the table in the datasheet

The data sheet view of the DesignAttach table now appears ribbon with the table name highlighted when you pick to see the data sheet view from the View menu on the as shown in Figure 6. The column name given to the column with the data type Attachment has been replaced by a paperclip icon.

Figure 6

 

To fill in some example data, enter the EmpName, and move over to EmpLastName and enter Last name. Repeat this process for EmpPhone and EmpHireDate. You do not enter into EmployeeID as it is automatically incremented. This is all very similar to what you would have done with earlier versions.

Now double click the row under the attachment field to open the Attachments window which is shown next in Figure 7, together with the table view.

Figure 7

 

Adding items to the column with Attachment data type

As mentioned in the beginning anything to do with attachments has to be carried out by bringing up the Attachments window shown in Figure 8. Now click on the Add... button which opens up an Open file / folder browsing window where you can go through the machine and networked computers to choose items to be added to the column. In this example the Overlooking Rio.jpg file was added. To add more items to the attachments, click the Add... button again. With two more clicks of the Add... button, a word document, Tophost_Oct29-2006.doc and a music file, 04 Brahms Double-III-Vivace Ma N.m4a were added (Files with M4a extension are audio files with Apple’s lossless compression). Some of these files were on the C–drive and some on a network folder.

Figure 8

 

When you click on the OK button after adding these files, they become part of the column for the Employee with ID=1 as shown in Figure 9. As you can see the attachment column shows that it has 3 items contained in it.

Figure 9

 

Similarly a second employee was added with just one attachment (this screen shot was before adding the item). If you right click the attachment column you can get a contextual drop-down from which you can click on Manage Attachments... link as shown Figure 10 to open to open the Attachment window.

Figure 10

 

Of course each time you make changes you will be asked to save the changes as in Figure 11.

Figure 11