Copy a report from one database to another

[Ken Springer]

I have a copy of an Access 2003 database created by another user. It's a
simple database, and Access is way overkill for the user's needs, but I can't
convince the user to switch to something simpler. :-(

So........

He created a report in the database, but the report generated errors.

I've fixed the report, and I need to get the repaired report back to the
user, but I don't want to transmit the entire database, just the report. I'm
not talking about the data created by the report, but the report that
generates the data.

So how do I save just the report, and how does the user import the report?

Thanks.

 

[Ken Snell [MVP]]

See
http://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/archive/index.php/t-66204.html
for examples of how to use SaveAsText and LoadFromText methods for exporting
a report and importing a report. See the reply by ghudson (05-06-2004, 01:09
PM) for examples.

Using the above methods, you'd export the report into a text file and send
that file to your user. He/she imports the text file to get the revised
report.

 

[Ken Springer]

Hi, Ken,

If you've flagged your message for a reply, I'm sorry for the tardy reply.
I read your message, and the Q#%^#U% MS system tossed my reply in the
dumpster for the umpteenth time. And I've no interest, anymore, in the
effort to access this board via a newsreader. I don't visit the MS
newsgroups enough to justify it.

Besides, I'm now a Mac user, moving away from Windows.

I checked ghudson's post, and the datastrat.com link he provided. Both
methods are far and away above my Access abilities. I'm not into computer
programming, and have no interest in learning how anymore.

Is there any simpler way of doing this? I have a copy of Office 2007 Pro I
bought for a couple of college classes, a purchase that wasn't needed, so if
2007 would let me import the 2003 mdb and then somehow get it to the user's
2003 database that would work.

Surely there is some kind of program out there that will let me do this
without being an Access programmer.



Thanks.

Ken

 

[Ken Snell [MVP]]

The alternative is to create a new database, import the report into that new
database, send that new database to the user, and let the user import the
new report from that database into the current database. However, some
caveats:

1) If the report is using a query or table as its RecordSource, the tables
involved through the query or the table itself all also would have to be
imported into the database along with the report.

2) If the report is using subreports, they too would need to be imported
into the new database.

The user would only need to import the new report, not the
tables/queries/subreports, but then the user would need to delete the old
report and rename the new report after it's imported.

--

Ken Snell
<MS ACCESS MVP>
http://www.accessmvp.com/KDSnell/

 

[Ken Springer]

Good Morning, Ken,

Well, it's morning here anyway!!! LOL

You alternative is what I was afraid would be necessary. :-( It's also
what I've always considered to be a "hacker's" way of doing things in order
to get things done because the programmers didn't provide the user a simple
means of accomplishing the task.

In experimenting to try to find a solution here, I learned I could use the
clipboard to copy a report from one mdb file to another. Is there a way I
could save the clipboard to a file, send it to the user, and the user could
import the clipboard file?

Sometimes I wonder if the phrase and words "simple and easy" are even in
MS's vocabulary.

A bit of background...... I started this project using a copy of the
original mdb file. It has two tables, there is no relation between them nor
common primary keys. (I've still got to clean up the primary key biz. :-(
) The user had created a slew of queries that shouldn't be necessary, and
I've deleted those queries in my copy.

The user had tried to create calculated fields in the table, didn't know
that was a no-no. I've deleted all the (hoped for) calculated fields, but
all of the remaining data fields are still formatted and named as they were
in the original.

I'm creating a calculated field for the report, had it working, but somehow
I've broken it. LOL I'll have to figure out what I did.

Since the fields I'm using in my version of the mdb and the same fields in
the original mdb file are still identical, do I still have to include the
tables in the version I send to the user? I'm on satellite, cable or DSL, so
I have limits on the amount of data I can be transferring back and forth in a
given period of time.

No subreports, I haven't figured out how to do that or they're value. I've
got a friend who teaches Access classes, and I've ordered a book he
recommends, but it hasn't arrived yet.

No subreports, I haven't even looked into what can be done with those.

I hope that was all clear as mud! LOL Ask if you're puzzled by something.

Gotta head for Home Depot.

Ken

 

[Ken Snell [MVP]]

In experimenting to try to find a solution here, I learned I could use the
clipboard to copy a report from one mdb file to another. Is there a way I
could save the clipboard to a file, send it to the user, and the user
could
import the clipboard file?

See my first reply about SaveAsText. This saves the report as a text file,
which you then can email to your user. This does not have to be done via VBA
code programming; it can be done from the Immediate Window in the Visual
Basic Editor.

Since the fields I'm using in my version of the mdb and the same fields in
the original mdb file are still identical, do I still have to include the
tables in the version I send to the user? I'm on satellite, cable or DSL,
so
I have limits on the amount of data I can be transferring back and forth
in a
given period of time.

If you do not have a table structure in the database file into which you
export the report, you take the chance that ACCESS will "mess up" the report
because the underlying structure on which the report depends is not in the
database file. But, try it without the table structure and see if it works.