AEU Meeting Date 6 May 2026 starting at 18:00 UK Time (UTC+1)	Last Updated 21 May 2026

Meeting Details:

This Access Europe meeting will be on Wednesday 6 May 2026 starting at 18:00 UK time (6PM UTC+1) and finishing at about 19:30 (7.30PM)

The start time is equivalent to 19:00 (7PM) in Central Europe and 10AM in Seattle / PST

Please note that the UK is currently on Summer Time (UTC+1). For local times, please check World Time Buddy

We use Zoom as our meeting application. Please click this link to Get Zoom if you don’t already have it.

When the time comes for the meeting, please use the following link: Join Zoom Meeting
If you are asked, use: Meeting ID: 924 3129 5683 ; Passcode: 661210

All sessions are recorded and later uploaded to the Access User Groups channel on YouTube

If you do not wish to be part of the recording, please ensure your webcam and microphone are both switched off during the meeting.



Download Outlook Calendar (.ics file):

Click to download: Outlook Calendar (.ics). Save in Outlook to create a recurring event for each month.



Topic outline:

This is a modified version of a presentation given by Tim Finch to the UK Access User Group in London in Oct 2025.

The idea for Grid Lanes was originally inspired by the work of Aleksander Wojtasz with interactive Gantt charts.
See the Sept 2024 Access Europe User Group session: Advanced Techniques with Interactive Gantt Charts

Grid lanes is a 2-dimensional grid on which users can place draggable objects and also place text inside. It is all programmed with GDI commands.
As an example, Tim has implemented the code for a Water Treatment Engineer company who send out engineers to clients every day and need to schedule the engineers geographically.

The grid is shown alongside an Edge browser control displaying Google Maps to visualize the daily route of each engineer.
This makes it easy to allocate each job to the most appropriate engineer so they simplify travel routes.
All code is wrapped in class modules with events that make it feel like a native Access control.



Background:


Tim started developing in MS Access in 1995 when a local motor bike leather suits manufacturer wanted to computerise their complex paper-based highly customised suit ordering process.
They still use the hybrid MS Access/VB/Excel based system for capturing sales in 2026.

Tim studied Computer Science at City University as a mature student in the late 90s, and has worked as an IT Consultant in varying roles, with database design for multiple clients as a prominent part to the portfolio, ever since.

Tim is married to Barbara, has 2 older teenage daughters, and lives in Somerset UK. When he isn't working, you'll often find him playing piano or 'keytar bass' in his local church band.

Website: https://timfinch.co.uk



Download:

Click to view / download the presentation from this session as a PDF file: GridLanes AEU Presentation May 2026     (Approx 6.7 MB)

The Grid Lanes application was done for a client contract and is therefore not available for free distribution.
If you are interested in purchasing a copy of the Grid Lanes application, please contact Tim Finch via his website: https://timfinch.co.uk



Video:

The meeting was recorded and the video is now available on the Access Europe YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/hoCIFoyzUz8 or you can click below:

       



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Colin Riddington	Mendip Data Systems	Last Updated 21 May 2026

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