H.1. What Are the Sources of Reserved Words?

In addition to the lists of reserved words that are directly associated with Access 2002, Access 2003, Jet 4, and Visual Basic, there are additional words to avoid that have special meaning to ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), OLE DB, Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), and any DLL (dynamic-link library) referenced in your application. Just by setting a reference to a type library, an object library, or an ActiveX control, all the reserved words for the referenced items become reserved words for the Access application. And the list keeps growing. All built-in function names and user-defined names also become reserved words.

It can get even hairier. The reserved words for a given application will vary depending on what mode the Jet database engine is running in. This is determined by whether Jet is called from Microsoft Access, the Microsoft OLE DB Provider for Microsoft Jet, a Data Access Object, or the Microsoft Access ODBC driver. The list is further impacted by whether Jet is running in ANSI mode or non-ANSI (traditional) mode. So, a query that works under one scenario may fail when the database application is opened in a different mode.

It is possible to find lists of reserved words by using the online help feature in Access, by searching for reserved words using various online search engines, and by pouring through reference books. Regretfully, any given list is not going to be comprehensive. This is another obvious endorsement for implementing naming conventions.

The potential list of reserved words can seem a bit overwhelming. That is why this appendix contains a table of reserved words. The table is a compilation of words from a variety of sources and it includes the reserved words for ANSI mode. So it should save developers significant research time. Please keep in mind that it is not an exhaustive list and that it specifically does not include additional words associated with third-party add-ins.