13.7. Summary

In this chapter, we looked at what APIs and DLLs are, and why you might want to use them. We introduced the concept of static versus dynamic linking and how to reference APIs in Access projects. We then examined the anatomy of an API call, and went into great detail about how to use the correct data types when calling API functions.

We then looked at trapping errors generated by DLLs and the considerations in distributing an application that references Type libraries and custom DLLs.

Although this has been a whirlwind tour of the Windows APIs and their use in VBA, we hope any fear or apprehension you may have had toward using them has been allayed to the point where you are now willing to experiment and learn by doing.