Compact on Close Not Running

[Charweb]

I have chosen the option "Compact on Close" for my database, but it only
seems to be compacting when my username logs off. When I sign on as other
users, even those set up as Admins, the database is not compacting when
closing. Anyone have a clue?

Thanks!

 

[Charweb]

OK I just realized that my personal permissions were set up to administer the
database, and when I removed all of the personal permissions, even though I
am a member of the Admin group, for which permissions are set to administer
the database, it is no longer compacting on close. And when I try to compact
manually, I get a message that I don't have permission to the database object.

So is there any way for the "Compact on Close" function to work without
having to give personal permissions to everyone to administer the database?

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

Your application should be split into a front-end (containing the queries,
forms, reports, macros and modules), linked to a back-end (containing the
tables and relationships). Each user should have his/her own copy of the
front-end, ideally on his/her hard drive.

Now, Compact On Close is only going to compact the front-end, whereas it's
the back-end that usually requires compacting, so that option becomes of
questionable use.

 

[Charweb]

OK

So - it doesn't seem as if the database will compact at all unless the user
has "Open Exclusive" permission, regardless if they actually have the
database open exclusively. Are you saying that in this manner you give them
"open exclusive" permission to the front end so that it can be compacted? Or
is there some other way?

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

You seem to have missed my point.

Since Compact On Close only compacts the database that's open (i.e.: the
front-end), there's little point in using it. To compact the back-end,
you're best off with a scheduled job that checks that the database isn't in
use.

 

[David W. Fenton]

Since Compact On Close only compacts the database that's open
(i.e.: the front-end), there's little point in using it. To
compact the back-end, you're best off with a scheduled job that
checks that the database isn't in use.

While that's certainly true, I would *always* turn off COMPACT ON
CLOSE, because there are some times where a corrupted database will
lose data if it's compacted. If you don't have a choice about
compacting, then you're going to lose that data as soon as you close
it, which you'd often do without knowing that it was corrupt.