Access® 2010 Bible

Appendix B. What's New in Access 2010

IN THIS APPENDIX

• Reviewing the changes and enhancements for the developer in Access 2010

• Looking at what's new in table design

• Understanding the new form and report options

• Learning the importance of SharePoint integration

Superficially, Access 2010 looks much like Access 2007. The somewhat-controversial ribbon is still there, and the old Database window has been replaced by the Navigation Pane. Other than a few new items on the ribbon, you might think that Access 2010 is just a minor upgrade to 2007.

But, just as Access 2007 added significant new features, Access 2010 also complicates the developer's life, but in ways that most people welcome.

Many of the following descriptions cover features that were introduced in Access 2007. I've left those discussions in for people who are transitioning to Access 2010 from an older version. Understanding these changes is particularly important for anyone not familiar with the ribbon and how the ribbon works.

The User Interface

Although the Access 2010 user interface is much like Access 2007, certain changes have been made to make Access easier and more intuitive to use. The Access 2010 user interface is shown in Figure B.1.

Figure B.1. The Access 2010 interface

As you can see, our old friend Northwind has an entirely new look. The biggest change in the Access 2007 interface was replacing the traditional nested menus ...