CURRENT TREND 2010

SYNCRODANT ANNOUNCES HETEROGENEOUS DATABASE INTEGRATOR

Syncordant, a data integration company, has announced the release of its new enterprise-class product, the Data Integrator. The new product enables a single, real-time, customizable view into multiple heterogeneous databases distributed anywhere in the world.

According to Syncordant, customers using its Data Integrator can begin productive work within hours of installation. The Data Integrator can feed applications, report writers, query tools, or web portals, and it is not necessary to transfer or copy data from different databases into a central one to query the Data Integrator. The product queries in place from wherever the data is located.

Another benefit of the Data Integrator is that advanced data ownership and security features can limit general access and define overall visibility. For example, the data owner can limit general access to a resource, and the Syncordant administrator can further narrow visible schema elements and assign appropriate privileges to different users and groups.

Additionally, if a certain database system needs to be swapped out, the Data Integrator can abstract the data layer so that databases can be seamlessly changed. This abstraction of the data layer can also simplify the work of application builders and integrators. Business intelligence applications are able to essentially build apps that provide near real-time results-a real-time data warehouse. Furthermore, the Data Integrator supports and can integrate the most popular dialects (such as Oracle, MySQL, DB2, MS SQL Server, and others) of remote stored procedures.

When companies merge or are acquired, often they are on different databases, and it can take weeks or months to integrate systems based on those databases. "The acquiring company or the merging companies want to be able to share data, and there is really not any simple, easy way to do it," Richard Preston, president and CEO of Syncordant, tells 5 Minute Briefing. "It is a consulting project, but with ours you can within hours figure out what is in each database and come up with your own schema and get information that you need to run your own business from multiple databases from anywhere in the world. It is kind of like a virtual screen in a sense that is customizable. And, a lot of people, we think, are going to stop right there, they are not going to worry about migrating to different databases," says Preston. "The fact of the matter is you ought to spend your time going forward and doing things that are going to help your business in the future."

http:\\www.dbta.com/Articles/Editorial/News-Flashes/Syncrodant-Announces-Heritogeneous-Database-Integrator-60942.aspx

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ATTACHING MENUS TO

FORMS AND REPORTS

When you have created your custom menus,you must attch them to their corresponding forms and reports. This is a simple matter of setting the Menu Bar property for each form and report.In Acces for Windows, you can change the menu bar of a form and runtime using VBA code

Creating Shortcut Menus

Microsoft has added an exciting new feature to Access for some Windows:Shortcut menus.

Shortcut menus are menus that appear when you right click on an object.You have probably been taking advantage of shortcut menus in many applications including the design environment of Access 2.0,now you can give your application’s users this valuable time-saver.

You can assign shortcut menus form and you can assign a different shortcut menu to every control on a form.You create shortcut menusthe same way you create standard menus: by first creating the top-level menu macro and then creating the submenu macros. You can create only one AddMenu action for the top-level macro. If you create more than one top-level menu by using additional Add menu actions.

Creating menu accelerator keys by using

Key Assignment macros

Although menu access keys(the keys that open pull-down menus when combined with the Alt key) and menu item hot keys(the shortcut keys for selecting a menu item from an open pull-down menu make it easy to select a menu item power users are always looking for faster shortcuts.To make your application as efficient as possible you need to give your users the ability to select an item with one key or key combination an accelerator key.

Unlike menu item hot keys which are only active while a pull-down menu is open accelerator keys are active at all times. An accelerator key may be one key such as the Delete key or it may be a key combined with Shift, Ctrl or Alt.

Creating intuitive accelerator keys

Microsoft offers a program for designating applications as Microsoft Office Compatible. All Microsoft Office Compatible applications share three characteristics:

*Common menu structures

*Common menu structures

*Common accelerator key definitions

For an application to be certified Microsoft Office Compatible. It not only needs to have accelerator keys but the accelerator keys must also be consistent with the other Microsoft Office products.For example, if you have a print menu item,you must use the Ctrl+P accelerator key. Even if you don’t plan on submitting your application for Office Compatibility certification,you should still attempt to use the same accelerator keys as Office,where applicable. This cnsistency lowers the learning curve for your application and helps your users become more productive in less time.

Adding accelerator keys to your application should be simple; unfortunately,it’s not.If you attempted to add accelerator keys to your application while using Access 2.0and became extremely frustrated,be aware that you will be frustrated again. If you attempt to add acceleratorkeys to your Access for Windows application.