Access™ 2007 VBA Programmer's Reference

L.4. Rules for Creating Names — Adding the Personal Touch

Developers tend to have an independent streak, which often means that we like to do things our own way. Thankfully, development is a creative process so typically there are multiple ways to achieve the desired results. That's also the case with naming conventions. Even if you choose to adopt existing standards, there are plenty of opportunities to incorporate your own preferences and come up with a system that is easy for you to remember, implement, and share. But before you start customizing things, it's still a good idea to understand the basic rules and principles of naming conventions. The following sections provide information to help you to both work with existing standards and create your own. You may find that a combination works best.

L.4.1. Starting with the Basics

Naming conventions apply to application objects, such as forms, reports, controls, queries, and user-defined objects, as well as to Access database engine (ACE) (and Jet) objects such as containers, databases, fields, queryDefs, tableDefs, and workspaces.

Consistency is the key. As stated earlier, it's best to determine your naming conventions before you create the first object in your database so that you can apply them consistently throughout your application. Remember that even when following an established naming convention, there will be plenty of situations that challenge your interpretation of how to apply it.

Next, think KISS (Keep It Short ...