Bullets and numbers that are out of proportion to your slide text can be distracting and ugly. This simple trick will ensure that those characters are sized just right.

Do your bullets and numbers overpower the text on your PowerPoint slides? Or are they so small you can hardly see them from the back of the room? You don’t have to settle for characters that distract from your message. For example, suppose too large numbers distract from the text as shown in Figure A.

Figure A

To daily cialis improve their appearance, just follow these steps:

1. In PowerPoint 2002/2003, go to Format | Bullets And Numbering. In PowerPoint 2007, choose Bullets And Numbering from the Bullets And Numbering drop-down list on the Home tab.

1. Click the Numbered tab.

1. In the Size box, click the down arrow until 80 is displayed, as shown in Figure B, and then click OK.

Figure B

The numbers will now be 80% the size of the surrounding text, as shown in Figure C.

Figure C

If you repeatedly type the same text in the same field, you’re working too hard. See how to set up a combo box that will speed data entry and spare you a TON of tedious typing.

Do you find yourself constantly typing the same data in the same field? For example, say you work with an Employee Data form, and you find that you’re typing the same three Zip codes repeatedly. Since most of your employees live near your company’s three offices, you seldom need to type any other codes. By converting the Zip code text box into a combo box, you’ll eliminate the retyping. Follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Zip/Postal Code text box.

1. Move to Change To and click Combo Box (Figure A).

Figure A

1. Right-click the Zip/Postal Code combo box.

1. Click Properties (Figure B).

Figure B

1. On the Data tab, click the Build button in the Row Source field (Figure C).

Figure C

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1. Add the Employees table.

1. In the field list, double-click Zip/Postal Code.

1. Click in the Criteria box under Zip/Postal Code and enter Is Not Null (Figure D).

1. Close and save the query.

Figure D

Now you can simply select one of the three zip codes from the drop-down list in the combo box, as shown in Figure E.

Figure E

Creating printed forms can be a hassle if you can’t get those blank lines to cooperate. Learn one of the easiest and most versatile ways to set up your form: using underlined tabs.

Word users often create printed fill-in forms that include underlined blanks spaces for writing in form data. While you can press Shift + – (hyphen) repeatedly to create these daily cialis dose underlined spaces, it’s difficult to line up the lines. Leader tabs make it easier to create even lines, as well as saving keystrokes, but you’re limited to four underline styles.

Using the Underline button to underline tab characters gives you all the advantages of leader tabs with a wider choice of underline styles. For example, say you have used tabs to lay out your form, as shown in Figure A.

Figure A

To create the lines, just follow these steps.

1. Select the first tab mark you want to underline, then hold down the Ctrl key while you select each of other tab marks (Figure B).

Figure B

1. Go to Format | Font, choose the thick underline style from the Underline drop-down list, and click OK. In Word 2007, go to the Home tab, click the Underline button arrow in the Font group, and select a style from the Underline style list (Figure C).

Figure C

All lines will be printed, as shown in Figure D.

Figure D

Don’t share e-mail addresses with the crowd. When sending e-mail to several people, use this trick to hide their addresses.

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Sharing e-mail addresses is frowned upon, but that’s exactly what you do every time you send an e-mail to more than one person — whether you’re creating or forwarding the message. Everyone who receives the e-mail has the address for every other recipient.  Within the same organization, or an intimate group of friends and family, that’s okay. However, it isn’t okay if you’re sending a promotion or special discount to 100 clients who don’t know one another. Depending on the nature of your business, you could lose your job.One quick option is to send the e-mail to yourself and bbc all the recipients. Doing so hides all e-mail addresses but yours. The downside of this technique is that bcc messages tend to get snagged by spam filters. That means your mail might never reach some of the recipients.

A more dependable way to send an e-mail to a list of undisclosed recipients follows:

Remember that the name you give the undisclosed contact (step 2) will show in the e-mail’s header, so give that name a bit of creative and careful thought.

If you Google “error logging in Microsoft Access,” you’ll find a number of complex solutions. But the process doesn’t have to be that difficult. Most of us need only a simple function to log specific information about the current error.

Despite all your best efforts, errors occur in every database. Most developers include adequate error-handling routines in their code, but that might not be enough. Knowing when an error occurs and how often it occurs can be important to resolving the issue and avoiding future errors. Access doesn’t track errors, but you can add that functionality to any database. All you need is a table and a little code.

Note: Our companion download includes a demonstration database and a several .bas module files you can import into any Access database. Don’t cut and paste the code directly from here into an Access module, as the article text contains formatting that will generate errors.

The easiest way

If you have just one database to maintain and you’re its only user, error logging isn’t a critical issue because you’re around when the error occurs. However, it’s difficult to display internal error information at the time of the error. It isn’t impossible, but even if your application displays it, you have to remember all of it. For that reason alone, adding a log can be helpful, especially during the testing stage.

The simplest way to log errors is to let each procedure’s error-handling routine do it. The error routine shown in Listing A (basErrorLog1.bas) inserts a record with error information into an existing table. To create the code, select Module in the Database window and then click New on the Database toolbar. Enter the code and save the module. (You can import the .bas file into any Access database, even an empty one.)

Listing A: ThrowError()

The function intentionally throws an overflow error in order to execute errHandler. This code builds a SQL INSERT INTO statement using the following information: the date, the computer’s name, the user’s name, the internal error number and description, and the module that generated the error.

About INSERT INTO

SQL’s INSERT INTO statement works well as long as you use it correctly:

You can customize the information to fit your needs. For instance, if no one else is using the database, you won’t need the user or computer names. Just remember to delimit each item correctly. Delimiters cause a bit of a problem for the error’s description text, as quite often this text includes single quotation marks. Assigning the text to a string variable, separate from the SQL string variable, makes the text easier to handle.

You must add this capability to every procedure to maintain a comprehensive log. In addition, before executing the code, create the error log table. The name of the example’s table is tblErrorLog, and it contains the following fields:

UserName and Computer Name are reserved words; even though those labels are more meaningful, you can’t use them to name a field or variable.

You can execute the code from inside the VBE. To do so, position the cursor anywhere inside the procedure’s code and press F5. Clear the message shown in Figure A. Open tblErrorLog to see the error record shown in Figure B.

Figure A

Clear the informational message.

Figure B

The table shows the new error record.

A project-level routine

Inserting error -logging code into every procedure works, but it’s inefficient. Consider calling a dedicated function, like the one in Listing B, instead. Call LogError() from each procedure’s error handling routine, as the procedure in Listing C shows. (Listing B and Listing C are in the download as basErrorLog2.bas.)

Listing B: LogError()

Listing C: ThrowError()

When ThrowError() experiences an error, VBA passes that error to errHandler, which calls LogError(). The LogError() function inserts a new record using the error information into tblErrorLog and then returns to ThrowError().

A more compact solution

The one disadvantage to using pure SQL is that the statement can grow rather long and unwieldy. If you’re not comfortable writing SQL, this solution might be a little difficult for you. There are other reasons to avoid SQL:

• If there are any plans for upsizing to SQL Server, avoid using Jet SQL, as SQL Server uses Transact-SQL (T-SQL). You’ll have to modify the SQL code so that SQL Server can use it.
• If you’re using Access to work with SQL Server tables, the Jet SQL will fail. You could use a Pass-Through query, but you must be familiar with T-SQL.

An ActiveX Data Object (ADO) Recordset presents a more versatile solution than pure SQL. The code in Listing D (basErrorLog3.bas in the download) uses ADO to log errors.

Listing D: LogError()

Execute ThrowError(), and the results are the same. The only difference is that the ADO version is more versatile because it will run against a SQL Server backend, as long as you establish the right connection (update the CurrentProject.Connection shortcut the example uses, appropriately).

Add error handling to the error logging

So far, the error-logging routines haven’t included error handling. For that reason, if you add one of these solutions as is, thoroughly test it to make sure you accommodate all possible errors.

You might want to add error handling to the error-logging routine, because any error within the error-logging routine will write over the current error properties you’re trying to log. Passing the error-logging information as shown in Listing E is a simple solution. As with all the previous examples, call the error logging function by executing ThrowError() in Listing F. (Listings E and F are in download file as basErrorLog4.bas.)

Listing E: LogError()

Listing F: ThrowError()

This version of ThrowError() passes the current error information to LogError(), which purposely throws another error in order to execute its error-handling routine. Of course, when applying this to your own work, you’ll want to delete LogError()’s Err.Raise statement. The error-handling routine prints the error values only to verify that the original error values still exist, even after a new error occurs. How you handle those values will be up to you. Just remember, as is, their scope is specific to LogError(). Once VBA returns flow to ThrowError(), they’re gone. The array presents an easy but alternate way to update the log table. Stick with the ADO solution if you’re working with SQL Server tables.

Notice that LogError() is now a Boolean function procedure (no longer a subprocedure as before). If VBA successfully logs the error, the function returns True; if not, the function returns False. The calling subprocedure (Listing F) contains an enhanced If statement that returns the appropriate message, depending on whether LogError() returns True or False. Figure C shows the simple message shown when the code fails to log an error. When you apply this technique to your own procedures, you’ll want to include specific error handling. As is, LogError() merely maps the flow for you.

Figure C

Let users know when the VBA is unable to log an error.

Worth noting

This is a good procedure to add to your code library. Just drop it into any database. cialis weekend pill If you’re working with an older database, make sure to reference the ActiveX Data Objects library (ADO).

Some developers don’t like Environ(); they complain that it’s unstable. If you have trouble with this function and you need to track the computer, use the API GetComputerNameA() function instead.

Remember, you must create the log table manually. You can, however, add code that creates the table if it doesn’t already exist.

Easy error log

If you Google error logging in Microsoft Access, you’ll find a number of complex solutions. The process doesn’t have to be hard to be good. Most of us need only a simple function to log specific information about the current error, for later use.