In the process of developing a more complex Microsoft Access database, you may find yourself wondering what changed when, or how you are going to collaborate with other developers. That's what this system was designed for. It basically exports your Access database into individual files representing the various tables, queries, forms, etc... in such a way that you can easily compare changes or revisions in the development process. Let's consider a couple use cases:

For some developers, they simply want to track the progress of their work on a database system over time. Using this Version Control System, you can simply export the project to source files, then commit those changes to GitHub (or other versioning system). If you are looking for something simple, GitHub Desktop provides a nice user interface for working with a GitHub/GitLab repository.

In other cases you might have a team of developers that are simultaneously working on the same Microsoft Access Database system. This Version Control System allows developers to work independently on their own copies of the database, exporting and committing changes to a repository. Changes are reviewed and merged at a source file level, and then the database is built from the source files to combine all the changes together.

Note: This aspect of building the database from source files is still under development.

The options dialog can be opened from the main screen by click the Options button. Internally the options are stored in a vcs-options.json file in the path of the exported source code. These options are loaded and used when exporting to source files, or when building a project from source.

!

• Export Folder - I like to keep this relative to the project, but it can be customized here.

  • [Blank] - Use default name of /[database.accdb].src, i.e. /Test.accdb.src
  • Relative Path - Prefix folder name with a backslash. For example, to export source into a subfolder called Source, you would enter \Source in this box.
  • Absolute Path - You may also use a full path name to a folder. I.e. W:\Git\Projects\Vehicles Database

• Use Fast Save - Major performance gain with small changes to large projects. This attempts to only export the objects that have changed since the last export. This especially helps to not have to export forms and reports if they have not changed.

• Show Detailed Output - Show more verbose messages while running.

• Strip out Publish Option - Strips out some Publish to Web settings from source files that are irrelevant to most projects.

• Aggressive Sanitize - Removes object GUIDs, name maps, and other data that changes from build to build. (These values are recreated automatically when importing source files.) From a development perspective, these are more like binary artifacts that just add noise to the version control commits, reducing clarity on actual code changes.

• Export Theme Files - Microsoft Access theme files (*.thmx) are actually zip files containing XML and other files that define the specifics of a theme. If you are customizing a theme, you may wish to extract these files so your changes can be tracked in Version Control.

• Save Report Print Settings - Saves a copy of the print configuration for reports and forms. This is especially useful when you are using specific printer settings. The output is stored in human-readable json.

• Save Query SQL - In addition to the Access object, this option exports a copy of just the SQL code from queries. I find this much more readable than the source of the Access Object when reviewing what I actually changed on the SQL side. (The Access object includes other information relating to the layout of the query designer.)

• Save Table SQL - In addition to the Access object, this creates a SQL statement like what you would use to create the table. Here again I find this easier to see at a glance what changed in the actual structure of the table between versions.

• Security - Define the security level you would like to use for potentially sensitive information like file paths, user or domain name.

  • None - (Default) Just export everything like it is stored in the database.
  • Encrypt - Use a basic Zv3-1-54-Zv3-1-54-Encryption to mask sensitive data.
  • Remove - Remove the sensitive data from the export files. (Note that you may not be able to successfully build from source if you choose this option.)

• Run Sub Before Export - Run a VBA subroutine before exporting the source code. This can be used to clean up temporary data, mask sensitive information, or anything else you want to do. This will be called using Application.Run.

• Run Sub After Export - Similar to the option above, this allows you to specify a VBA subroutine to run after exporting the source code.

The Table Data tab allows you to selectively include certain tables from which to include table data in version control. The structure of the tables is already being saved, but this gives you the additional option of saving the data itself.

An example of where you might use this would be a table that defines options or settings in your database application. You might want to track when these settings change. Another example would be a USysRibbons table that defines the layout of a custom application ribbon.

The concept here is that you are selecting the table from which you want to save data, choosing the format to use, and clicking Update to save the changes.

• Show Hidden - List hidden tables in the current database.

• Show System - List system tables in the current database.

• Show Other - List table names that are saved in the options, but do not exist in the current database. You can also manually add table names to your vcs-options.json file. (Add a table through the interface first, and use the same syntax.)

• Selected Table - This highlights which table you have selected to set the export format. To add a table that is not listed, click the Other... link.

• Data to Export - Select the format to use for the exported data.

  • Tab Delimited - Separate values with tab character. This is a good format to use when importing to Microsoft Excel, or reading the values in Version Control files.
  • XML Format - Select this option for the most complete and robust representation of the data. It is harder to read in source files, but should import back in to accurate recreate the original data.
  • No Data - Don't save data for this table.

• Update - Save output specification changes for the selected table. You should see the Save Data column update in the list of tables when you click the Update button.

One of the unique features of this add-in is the ability to build a fully functioning database completely from source files. This allows multi-user development in a more typical development workflow where source files are exported and combined to build the end product.

• Force import of original SQL for queries - In some cases, such as when a query contains a subquery, AND has been modified in the visual query designer, it may be imported incorrectly and unable to run. For these cases we have added an option to overwrite the .SQL property with the SQL that we saved separately during the export. See issue #76 for further details.

• Run Sub After Build - Run the specified subroutine after building the project from source files. This is a great way to extend the add-in to add any custom post-build functionality that you need after the build finishes. For example, you might use this to trigger an automated testing routine that verifies that the application is fully functional.

• Save output specification changes for the selected table. You should see the Save Data column update in the list of tables when you click the Update button.

For more information about the Zv3-1-54-Encryption used by this add-in, please see this page.

• I Understand - Acknowledge that you have read the disclaimer, and and would like to set the Zv3-1-54-Encryption key.

• Key Name - This is the name used to reference the Zv3-1-54-Encryption key that is stored in the registry. When multiple users are working on the same system, the can set the same key and name, and be able to decrypt the encrypted paths and other content when building the application from their respective computers.

For more information about the Zv3-1-54-Encryption used by this add-in, please see this page.

• Save as Default - Save the current options as default for new projects. Anytime you export source and a vcs-options.json file does not already exist, it will use the default options that you have specified.

• Restore Defaults - In the current project (open database), restore all the options to their default values based on your saved system defaults.

• Clear Defaults - Reset all the options to the default settings specified in the add-in source code. If you click this button, then the Save as Default button, it will reset any user customizations to the default options.

• Remove Add-In - Uninstalls the add-in from your user profile, including all saved defaults and Zv3-1-54-Encryption keys.