Code vs Add ons

[Freehal04]

I've been battling with writing code that will fit my DB and I've lost. I'm
just no good at it. NO matter how I try to massage it to work for my DB I
just can't get it. So I was wondering if I should just buy an add on to take
care of my automatic emails or not.

My boss just wants it to work. If I could get the code to work, that would
be fine, but my boss wants it to be automatic with as little user or admin
'interference' as possible. From what I've come to understand, code can only
help Access work when it's open. This is the last major hurdle for this DB.
Can anyone give me a really good run down on the options for automatic email
generation and capabilities? Thanks.

 

[Klatuu]

Your requirements are vague.

Define "Automatic", for example.

Give a detailed description of the desired process.

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

Sure. Steve Arbaugh's add-in code at:

http://www.groupacg.com/

has work well for me when automatically converting Access POs to PDFs with:

http://www.win2pdf.com

and automatically emailing them. Although I overwhelmed the Exchange Server
now and then, I was able to email as many as 1200 POs of varying sizes, in a
2 hour period.

It's a bit pricey, but you might also have a look at:

http://www.fmsinc.com/Products/Emailer/index.asp

 

[Freehal04]

My DB is used to track reports submitted. It has a lot of information ie
title of report, contract number associated with it, report manager, etc. It
also has a due date. I want an automatic email to be sent out 10 prior to
the due date telling the manager "hey, you have a report due"

I've heard people say there is code that will help you send out a copy of
the form your working on in the email, I've heard it can send out a copy of
the report, also a version that just starts up Outlook and sends a basic text
message that the report is due. I've also been told for most of these to
work (if they ever do) Access has to be opened. To me that kind of defeats
the purpose, if a user has to click on somthing.

I was hoping that Access could see the due date being 10 days out, would
send the email with out the user having to have to be on a specific form or
table. Once the users use the DB it will be opened everyday so I don't think
I have to worry about Access being shut down, but basically it's 10 days,
email is sent. I haven't been able to modify other's code to work on my DB,
so I was wondering if there are any Add ons that will do it for me.

My boss said that if I have to by an Add on he doesn't really care, as long
as it works and isn't insanely overpriced? Your thoughts?

 

[Klatuu]

I haven't seen the code that Arvin is recommending, so I will take his word
that it is useful.
As to the scheduling part; however, (again I haven't seen the code, but
maybe he can speak to this point) it may be necessary for you to do this
yourself.
Certainly, Access has to be open for it to do anything. It is not necessary
for you to actually start up Access to sent the emails. Some intervention on
your part is necessary, like for instance you have to actually power up the
computer
If you want this done during working hours when it is running, then you can
use a form's Timer event to start the process.

If you want it to be totally automatic, you can use the Windows Task
Scheduler to kick off an Access application. Create a small mdb or mde that
has either a form or uses an AutoExec macro to run the code, perform the
work, then quit the application. The advantage here is that you don't take
up cycles in the main app checking to see if the reminders should be sent,
and the other resources (network, exchange server, etc) will be more idle.