Hello all,

I have a scheduling program that was created in Access2003 that extensively uses the Calendar Control that was deprecated in Access2010. My users have updated their systems to Windows7 and have installed Office2010. Inititially, the program crashed because of the deprecated Calendar control. Therefore, they have both 2003 and 2010 installed. I finally have time to update the program and am trying to mimic the crash on my side. Well, lo and behold, I open up the database and everything works fine! Therefore, as is often the case in our world, ironically, I am thinking something is amiss.

Does anyone know if Micro$oft have caved in and recently released a patch to allow this control to carry forward? If not, why does this control work if MS deprecated it?

I am almost giddy with the possibility that the control has been re-instated. Trust me, a scheduling program without a calendar is kind of like a Q-tip that was dropped in the mud, it's useless.

Thanks for any reply from anyone who may have any information on this.

Have a great day!

I don't know. Recently, another poster reported that they were having problems with calendar control and it seemed that though the calendar control was installed and everything because of previous Access installation, it didn't work correctly.

If I were you, I'd drop the calendar control and use alternatives that still works. Just because it seems to work there and here doesn't mean it'll keep on working everywhere. If there were a patch, I'd have thought MS Access Team Blog would mention this at least.

I have not personally heard of the control being reinstated. Maybe it already exists on your computer and so Access was able to find it.

At any rate, the idea was, I believe, that date fields now have the DatePicker available by default, so it pops up a calendar. However, I don't see on my copy of Access 2010 any kind of equivalent that remains visible on the screen, so you might have to find a third party calendar control OCX.

Mike

Thank you both for responding.

When we first installed Office 2010, I did receive error messages that Access couldn't find the MSCAL.OCX control which decididely crashed the program. Of course, the date picker, which microsoft has brilliantly determined, in there ever increasing manner of forcing their help upon me, is not an option because my users need to be able to see the calendar for things like, "We have an opening in three weeks on Thursday, May 19th." without having to click an icon to get a pop-up. Of course, bitching about it doesn't fix it.

I just find it odd that the calendar works now, though the comment: "Just because it seems to work there and here doesn't mean it'll keep on working everywhere." is very sage. And, I believe I should probably just bite the bullet and hard code the calendar as a subform in my program. This will then keep the program from having any future problems with control versions and the like.

So, for anyone who may be experiencing similar issues with any embedded calendar controls from previous versions of Access, I have included the link from MSDN that gives Microsoft's solution options for replacing the control. HTHs. Again, thanks for the replies.

Link for Replacing the Calendar Control in Access 2010 from MSDN

It sounds to me that your database worked because it picked up the Calendar Control installed with the older Access version. Have you checked the References for the Calendar Control to see which version it picks up?

vtd -

FWIW: I agree with your assessment, but I also recently helped another poster who reported that though he didn't have any missing references, it didn't work correctly with his A23010 which was installed over a older version.

>> ... which was installed over a older version.
"over" is probably the difference between the other Topic and this Topic. In the other Topic, the older Access version including the Calendar Control would have been removed. In this Topic, I think MsfStl meant that both Access 2010 and the older version remain on the computer.

Cheers

Certainly possible. I can't claim to have perfect memory, however and even granting it was correct, there's also the unexplained mystery as to why the other OP didn't have any missing references when it should be missing. Anyway, in his case, it didn't work even though there weren't any missing references error as described by Access Team blog's article on deprecation; he could open Access normally and do stuff up until he tried to use the calendar control. Oh, well.

You can always take a look for other options...
For example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU4mH0jPntI
In spanish
http://geeks.ms/blogs/access/archive/2008/...la-manga-i.aspx
http://geeks.ms/blogs/access/archive/2009/...-desenlace.aspx
There are tons of examples on the cloud regarding building your own calendars.
I think is clever to not depend too much on MS controls... they don't fix security holes... just eliminate with a KillBit any tread.
Regards
Diego

>>... there's also the unexplained mystery as to why the other OP didn't have any missing references when it should be missing.<<
I previously observed that in pre-Access 2010 versions, some databases seemed to need the Cal.OCX in the References while other databases that use the Calendar Control did not need to have the Cal.OCX in the References. In fact, I am looking at one right now in Access 2000 that has working Calendar but the Cal.OCX is not included in the References.

Not sure why, though...

Diego, just to be 100% sure - so you've found a solution that works for you? If so, great!


vtd - Interesting. I thought that adding an ActiveX always adds a reference by implication. In the other topic, the OP says it's listed but it still doesn't work. Go figure!

That is correct, actually I have three instances of Access 2003, 2007 and 2010. I hated the 2007 format so, I never used it, though it looks like I'll need to bite the bullet and move forward on the 2010 version now. I have checked my references via VBA and it appears I have the Microsoft Calendar Control 11.0 as well as Microsoft Access 14.0 Objects Library along with ActiveX v2.8 data objects libraries selected too. Other than selecting a specific reference from time to time, I am pretty much a noob when it comes to what those really are, other than a library reference similar to a set of drivers.

The point of installing 'over' rather than 'with' is a good one, I think. My users had 'clean' installs of Windows7 and Office2010, so there would have been no instance of those references preselected on their machines. I will get with their system admin and run an experiment to see if we can select these references as a work around. If so, that definitely buys me time to rework this code. (grateful, tentative sigh)

Anyway, it would seem to me that if a control has been deprecated, that means it no longer works, period. Yet, if all one needs to do is set a reference, then Microsoft should be gracious enough to state that as one of the work arounds with a caveat that they will no longer update nor support that object. don't ya think?

Well, it's possible but you may know the saying "give them an inch and they'll take a mile". I know that simply by mentioning a workaround (even with lots of caveats), people will cringe to it and thus make it even more difficult for them to deprecate anything. Right now, Microsoft is kind of in a mess WRT backward compatibility where people are expecting their 16-bit DOS applications to work as it has in last 10 years all the along.

Follow up on my external users reference library selections. Let me backtrack a moment here and recap, when Access2010 was installed it would not work with the calendar control and crashed. Therefore, because this program is central to several peoples workflows, Access 2003 was reinstalled and the program was back to normal. In my attempt to replicate and notate the issue on my machine which has (for better or worse) three instances of Access (2003, 2007, and 2010) I did not receive the error and the program appears to be working nominally. Upon further review, I find that I have a reference for Microsoft Calendar Control 11.0 selected with the program, as well as MS Object Library 14.0.

So, now I start thinking and I call up one of the users and I have them try to bring up the program via A2010 and it now works! I then have them close the program and then create a new blank Access DB in 2010, and then have them go into VBA to view the associated references. I am expecting to see the Microsoft Office Calendar Control 11.0 reference, however, it is not there. Only four references are selected by default:

• VBA
• Microsoft Access 14.0 Object Library
• OLE Automation
• Microsoft Office 14.0 Access database engine Object Library

My conclusions are:

1. the calendar references are associated with the A2003 version even when using A2010. However, if an older version of Access is not available, then this reference is lost and any calendar controls previously used are useless.
2. if you wish to use a calendar, you need to consider how it is to be used. If you only need a select a date and the continuous view of a calendar is of no consequence then utilize the built in datepicker in A2010.
3. Otherwise, a calendar must either be hard coded or brought in from a 3rd party vendor.

There are several links above which can guide you to your selected path. Ultimately, I am very disappointed with Microsoft. How did they come to a decision that a calendar is of no use? While the other 90% of the bells and whistles they provide I will never touch much less know about. For my work and this scheduling program specifically, this is like driving a car with no steering wheel. Just a horrible choice on Microsoft's part. Ultimately, this pushes me closer to abandoning Access and moving into a PHP-type web based system. Anyway, just my 2 cents.

Have a good day.

~Scot

I hear you, and I may be unique from my perspective, though I highly doubt it...dates are a very big part of any database and I find calendars to be very useful if not necessary. To me it's like saying we won't handle decimals anymore because we can just round them up or down and an integer is cleaner and prettier. Sorry, I'm just venting my frustrations now. I digress.

Thanks to all how have shown interest and replied to this topic.

~S

Well, I don't want to be intrusive, but to help a little, since I passed through a similar situation some time ago.
Needless to say, I'm not an expert.

In this file, you can find the code ready to be used to hardcode your own calendar

http://archive.msdn.microsoft.com/odcac201...?ReleaseId=5032

In this link you can find the video of its usability.

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/rep...tions/10t16fzf1

Hope that helps.

Diego

Thanks, Diego. yea, I've referenced that above and I'll be using that method to replace the controls in my program at some point. But I have watched the video yet. Thanks again.

~S

I too had the same experience where Office 2010 was installed and I got the same error message when opening the database. I then opened it with Access 2002 which is still on our computers. After that whenever I open it on my machine in 2010 it runs normally and no more error messages. Then I had a user open it in Office 2010 and he got the error message.

I think when it works it's referring to those files (mscal.ocx and fpdtc.dll) from Access 2002.