New to Access 2003 is the capability to integrate data with SharePoint Team Services. You can export table data to SharePoint Team Services, or import data from SharePoint Team Services. The text that follows covers both of these processes.
It is very easy to export data to SharePoint Team Services. After you have done so, you can manipulate it in SharePoint and treat it just like any other SharePoint data. Here's the process:
Click to select Tables in the list of objects.
Right-click the table you wish to Export, and select Export from the context-sensitive menu. The Export Table dialog appears.
Select SharePoint Team Services as the Save As Type. The Export to Windows SharePoint Services Wizard appears (see Figure 19.11).
Fill in the SharePoint site where you want to export the data (see Figure 19.12), and click Finish.
A dialog appears indicating that the process completed successfully (see Figure 19.13). If you opted to open the list when finished, the wizard launches Internet Explorer and the SharePoint client. The list appears ready for you to manipulate (see Figure 19.14).
Just as you can export data to SharePoint, you can import SharePoint lists into Access. Here's the process:
Click to select Tables in the list of objects.
Right-click in a blank area of the Database window and select Import. The Import dialog appears.
Select SharePoint Team Services from the Files of Type drop-down. The Import from Windows SharePoint Services Wizard appears (see Figure 19.15).
Click to select the site that contains the data you want to import and then click Next. The Select Lists step of the wizard appears (see Figure 19.16).
Select the lists you want to import. Indicate whether you want to import the entire lists, or just views of the lists. Finally, select Retrieve IDs for Lookup Columns if you want to be able to edit lookup columns. Click Next when done. The Select Views step of the wizard appears (see Figure 19.17).
If you have established views for your lists, the wizard gives you the opportunity to import those views. Make your selections and click Next. The final step of the wizard appears (see Figure 19.18).
Verify all the information and click Finish. A message box appears indicating that Access has finished importing the list(s).
Click OK. The process completes and the table appears in the list of tables.
If you view the design of the table, notice that a field called Edit exists. This field is a Hyperlink field (see Figure 19.19). If you view the form in Datasheet view and hover the mouse pointer over the hyperlink, notice that the link points to the list on the SharePoint server (see Figure 19.20). If you click the hyperlink, the link takes you to an edit form on the SharePoint server where you can make changes to the live data (see Figure 19.21). These changes do not affect the Access copy of the data until you re-import the list.