Microsoft® Access® 2010 Programmer's Reference

Appendix H. The Access Source Code Control

The Access Source Code Control (SCC) is a tool distributed separately from Access to allow developers to track the changes during the development of Access database applications. Source code controls can be effective for versioning and protecting software and any changes made to it, especially when there are multiple users accessing and updating the same code for long periods of time. Because there is no mechanism built directly into Access to version the changes made to a database, installing the SCC can provide systematic versioning for an Access database development project.

Three pieces are required to use the SCC with Access:

• Microsoft Access (any version after and including Access 2000).

• The Access Source Code Control component (which is included in the ADE).

• A source code control program, such as Microsoft Visual Source Safe (VSS); both versions 6.0a and 2005 will work.

Unfortunately the Access SCC Add-in does not include a source code control program, but it does give the user the capability to use Access with any standard source code control program. A standard source code control program is defined as any SCC provider that is registered to Windows as a standardized source code control provider in the Windows Registry. While many different source code control applications are available, the examples in this appendix use the Access SCC Add-in with Microsoft Visual Source Safe 2005 (MS VSS), the latest release of the MS VSS available ...