AEU25 - Better Access Charts - The Next Generation (Thomas Moeller)
Back by popular request, this presentation is a continuation of Thomas Moeller's highly regarded Access Europe presentation from February 2023 which is available at • AEU12: State-of-the-art charts in Acc...
Thomas demonstrated what has changed in Better Access Charts since that time. He covered the following topics:
1. Divide and conquer - Divide a monster class into 20 simple classes
2. Pictures of you - Take a picture from a chart and put it on a report
3. You are fired - How to get rid of the HTML file
4. Living on the edge - Challenges with the new Edge browser control
5. New kids on the block - Adjustments to run Chart.js v3 & v4
Links/Downloads:
1. Latest version of Better Access Charts (BAC) available at https://github.com/team-moeller/bette...
2. PDF of presentation available at https://isladogs.co.uk/aeu-25
3. Thomas Moeller's website: https://www.Team-Moeller.de (German) or https://www.team-moeller.de/en/ (English)
4. Access Europe video playlist on YouTube: • Access Europe
Times:
00:00 Welcome by Colin
00:51 Intro by Thomas Moeller
02:13 Schedule for today's presentation
03:45 Audience survey & results
06:42 Divide & Conquer - split a monster class into 20 simple classes to make code easier to read (thanks to Klaus-Dieter Gundermann)
12:11 Documentation of all classes/methods at https://github.com/team-moeller/bette...
13:16 Pictures of You - take a picture from a chart & place it in a report - needed for older Access versions as old web browser control not available in reports
15:20 Solution - use a hidden instance of IE browser and create image of chart for report
17:15 Explanation of VBA code used - SaveChartAsImage - DEMO
20:05 Unexpected problem - size of chart / animation not completed when chart drawn
21:20 You're fired - how to get rid of the HTML file
22:50 1st try: Old code = Navigate to HTML file replaced by writing code into web browser
26:31 2nd try: Write simple HMTL file, save & load. Write HTML chart code into web browser
27:42 Living on the Edge: Challenges with the new Edge browser control
30:35 Can replace legacy (IE) browser control with new (Edge) browser control from right click context menu
30:59 Security features part 1 - redirected pages open in Edge browser itself NOT browser control. Solution - use trusted domains
33 15 Security features part 2 - prefix local files with https://msaccess/ to open in local browser. Prefix is now added automatically but is slow (3 second delay). Can make faster by editing the hosts file.
35:59 Security features part 3 - Insert Javascript tags
39:05 Load HTML Code - use Execute JavaScript
40:47 Load HTML Code 2 - issue with vbCrLf - replace with vbNullString
41:55 Load HTML Code 3 - integrate script files / location of script files (local file recommended)
43:38 Load HTML Code 4 - Summary
44:18 Edge browser control version 1 - works with Javascript v3.03 onwards
45:12 New Kids On the Block - adjustments to run Charts.js v3 & v4 - use new Edge browser control
47:29 Adaptation to Chart.js v3 & v4 - migration guides helpful / new plug-in - autocolors
49:40 Summary of changes - B.A.C. now supports Charts.js v4.4.1
51:25 Demo of latest version - 8 chart types / subtitles / data labels / animation types etc
57:03 Resources / links
57:58 Q&A session
58:20 Q1: APR Pillai - are gradient fills possible? A1: not at the moment but anyone can modify as an open source project
59:19 Discussion - adding "127.0.0.1 msaccess" to Windows hosts file can significantly speed up loading local files in Edge browser control. Useful for other purposes but not needed here as BAC now loads instantly
1:00:50 Q2: Alex - distributes apps with Access 2010 Runtime - can we use BAC? A2: Not the latest version but older versions (2.xx) which use the legacy web browser will work
1:02:06 Crystal: - suggested using Sleep API rather than DoEvents to speed up processing
1:02:46 Q3 Tim: praised work already done but raised concern that changes made by Chart.js developers & Access team could break things in future? Could code be embedded so no need for an internet connection?
A: Yes - can use a local file to ensure Chart.js will be specified version. Regressions to Access are unfortunately a fact of life
1:05:46 Dale - commented that when restricting date range to omit Jan, values for that month were still visible when data labels were shown. Thomas will contact developers of Chart.js to get that fixed
1:06:47 More praise for Thomas' work from Crystal / thanks from Colin for another excellent presentation
1:07:18 Colin: links / downloads and final comments
1:08:19 Next month: Dale Fye - Working with command bars, the Access Shortcut Tool + a simple audit log - Wed 3 Apr @18:00 UK Time (UTC+1)
1:10:46 Info about the live UKAUG conference in London on Tues 9 April and the online Access DevCon conference on 18/19 April
1:11:35 End