How do you get rid of troublesome references within Microsoft Access?

aka Common Microsoft OCX replacements

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Why?  Because, now or in the future, your users will have different versions of the software or the files you are using.   Sooner or later it will bite.  And bite hard.  The problems or error messages can be quite obscure.  

• Right$, Left$, Trim$ or Mid$ stop working. 
• Microsoft Access: An unexpected error occurred Number -2147319779 Description: Method 'Fullpath' of object 'Reference' failed
• "Function is not available in expressions in table-level validation expression."

For some information on the problems see Doug Steele's excellent Access Reference Problems

Outlook, Word or Excel

Use late binding   This also works on other applications which use Automation such as Visio.

Treeview Control - comctl32.ocx

No answer yet for this one.   But there may be a solution soon.

Common Dialog Control  - comdlg32.ocx

Use the common dialog API calls.  While intimidating at first glance just drop the code in a module and use it.  No need to examine the innards.

• Call the standard Windows File Open/Save dialog box
• ACC97: How to Use the Common Dialog API in an Access Database While the article is in A97 the same code will work in newer versions of Access
• BrowseFolder Dialog

Calendar Control - mscal.ocx

Use Access forms or Stephen Lebans MonthCalendar API code.

Internet Transfer Control - msinet.ocx

Internet Data Transfer Library

Progress Bar - comctl32.ocx

Progress Bars and Microsoft Access

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