Database communication not working

[Amy Blankenship]

Hi, all;

I have a piece of software that I have built that tracks user interaction to
an Access database that gets installed to the user's computer in their
UserApplicationData folder. For one user, I have been able to determine
that the software is not able to communicate with the database. I have
verified that the user has Jet 4 installed and that he is on XP SP2.

Does anyone have any idea what might cause a failure in the Jet drivers?

Thanks;

Amy

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

I have a piece of software that I have built that tracks user interaction to
an Access database that gets installed to the user's computer in their
UserApplicationData folder. For one user, I have been able to determine
that the software is not able to communicate with the database.

What do you mean by not communicate? Is there an error message of
some sort?

Are you used drive letters? Does that person have a different drive
letter assigned?

Does anyone have any idea what might cause a failure in the Jet drivers?

We don't yet know if this is a failure in the Jet DLLs.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

 

[Amy Blankenship]

What do you mean by not communicate? Is there an error message of
some sort?

The language I wrote it in does not show errors unless you specifically ask
it to, so if there are messages users are not able to report them. I wrote
a quick and dirty diagnostic application for the guy, but I had about a 45
minute window to get the diagnostic to him, so error messages didn't make it
in. Realistically, I probably won't have an opportunity to improve it for
him.

By not communicating, I mean if I run a query guaranteed to return results,
nothing happens.

Are you used drive letters? Does that person have a different drive
letter assigned?

I am using the system enviromnent variable for the UserApplicationData
folder.

Typically, when the component I used to make the connection fails, it is
because the path to the database is too long. I have verified that this is
not the case in this instance. Is there any sort of weird obscure
permissions thing that might be coming into play? It is a DSN'less
connection.

Thanks;

Amy

 

[David W. Fenton]

I have a piece of software that I have built that tracks user
interaction to an Access database that gets installed to the
user's computer in their UserApplicationData folder. For one
user, I have been able to determine that the software is not able
to communicate with the database. I have verified that the user
has Jet 4 installed and that he is on XP SP2.

From other posts in the thread, it's clear you're using ODBC to
communicate with the data. Thus, you are not using Access for the
front end. ANd that means that your statement that you're
interacting with an Access database is false -- you are not using
Access at all (though you may have used Access to create the MDB),
but you are using Jet.

Those are important details that you need to spell out to get help
when posting to an Access newsgroup.

It is unlikely that your problem has anything at all to do with Jet,
in my opinion, and is entirely something wrong in your program,
whatever language you happen to be using to write it.

 

[Amy Blankenship]

From other posts in the thread, it's clear you're using ODBC to
communicate with the data. Thus, you are not using Access for the
front end. ANd that means that your statement that you're
interacting with an Access database is false -- you are not using
Access at all (though you may have used Access to create the MDB),
but you are using Jet.

I did say I was using Jet.

Those are important details that you need to spell out to get help
when posting to an Access newsgroup.

"Those" is a pronoun you are using here, apparently without an antecedent.
I can't really provide "those" details without knowing which details you
actually want.

It is unlikely that your problem has anything at all to do with Jet,
in my opinion, and is entirely something wrong in your program,
whatever language you happen to be using to write it.

Why are you posting to this thread? I am specifically asking for theories
of what could be wrong on the Jet side. I am a world recognized expert in
the software I used to write the program. Therefore, there is no one I can
ask about problems on that side. I am relatively inexperienced with Access
and Jet, so I am coming to gather more information on the part of the
equation where there are people available who know more about the situation
than I do. So if you have some helpful theory to add, great. Please do so.
But if you're just posting to say I'm an idiot to be asking questions,
please don't bother.

Thanks;

Amy

 

[David W. Fenton]

I did say I was using Jet.

If you were using Access, you could be using Jet, too. The key point
is that you are *not* using Access, which was not made clear.

"Those" is a pronoun you are using here, apparently without an
antecedent. I can't really provide "those" details without knowing
which details you actually want.

Here are some suggestions:

1. what language/platform you are programming in.

2. what errors you are getting

3. what database engine you are using.

You provided the last, mixed in with claims of using Access, which
implies an incorrect answer to #1, which is why someone asked you if
you were using Environ(), which is a VBA command.

Why are you posting to this thread? I am specifically asking for
theories of what could be wrong on the Jet side.

And from what you've said, I'm telling you that it's unlikely to be
a Jet problem.

I am a world recognized expert in
the software I used to write the program.

Oh, I BOW DOWN TO YOUR EXPERTISE!!!!!!!

Therefore, there is no one I can
ask about problems on that side. I am relatively inexperienced
with Access and Jet, so I am coming to gather more information on
the part of the equation where there are people available who know
more about the situation than I do. So if you have some helpful
theory to add, great. Please do so. But if you're just posting to
say I'm an idiot to be asking questions, please don't bother.

If you're such a great programmer, why have you written a program
that doesn't report error messages from the components you are
using? That's completely idiotic and unprofessional.

Nobody can help you at all until you have identified the error that
is occuring.

It's that simple.

 

[Amy Blankenship]

If you were using Access, you could be using Jet, too. The key point
is that you are *not* using Access, which was not made clear.

The database driver I am using is Microsoft Access Driver (*.mdb). So
whoever named the drive clearly _does_ consider the driver to be to a
Microsoft Access database, however _you_ care to argue the semantics of the
situation.

Here are some suggestions:

1. what language/platform you are programming in.

Macromedia Authorware. I didn't expect that anyone here would have ever
used it or know its characteristics, so it didn't seem relevant.

2. what errors you are getting

None. It is not possible to get at that information.

3. what database engine you are using.
Jet.

You provided the last, mixed in with claims of using Access, which
implies an incorrect answer to #1, which is why someone asked you if
you were using Environ(), which is a VBA command.

I am using an access database (tables contained in an mdb file, if for
whatever reason you don't consider that to be an Access database) as the
data source for an exe that is not an access database.

Well that's interesting, but the question was actually if it is a Jet
problem, what could it potentially be? So regardless of whether I am
correct or not correct I need to research the possible issues that could be
causing it. I don't need a complete primer on all causes, just some
pointers on areas to search. Sometimes the right search term can make all
the difference.

And from what you've said, I'm telling you that it's unlikely to be
a Jet problem.

I am aware that you are telling me that. However, just because you are
telling me that doesn't mean you're right. I'm not always 100% right in all
the answers I give in the areas where I am an expert. Sometimes it's a
situation I have not encountered yet or something I have incompletely
understood. Are you _so_ perfect then that you are _sure_ it couldn't be
Jet? Or are you simply saying that your experience has not yet come up on a
situation where Jet failed, so it is something that you are unable to
formulate theories on?

Oh, I BOW DOWN TO YOUR EXPERTISE!!!!!!!

Cool. Thanks. Could you kiss my toes while you're down there? My
husband's been working awfully hard lately...

If you're such a great programmer, why have you written a program
that doesn't report error messages from the components you are
using? That's completely idiotic and unprofessional.

Are you seriously telling me you report all errors of any kind that occur in
your programs to end users? I am amazed that any of them come back. I _do_
perform error trapping, of course, but to show each and every error that
occurs (some deliberate) to end users would be the end of my career.

Nobody can help you at all until you have identified the error that
is occuring.

Wow. I find it appalling that the entire Access community is so ignorant of
how Jet works that among them they can't formulate a single theory of how it
could fail without an error message being provided. For instance, couldn't
it be this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/174655/en-us? But no one _here_
came up with that link or anything comparable. Come on. I know there has
to be _someone_ around here who's got enough experience behind him/her to at
least venture some educated guesses.

-Amy

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

The language I wrote it in does not show errors unless you specifically ask
it to, so if there are messages users are not able to report them.

That's a very interesting environment. We always want to see the error messages and,
depending on the error, we will put in special handling.

Can you turn on all error messages for that user?

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

 

[Amy Blankenship]

That's a very interesting environment. We always want to see the error
messages and,
depending on the error, we will put in special handling.

Can you turn on all error messages for that user?

I have created a better diagnostic tool that should be able to shed more
light if I can get him to download and run it, or if there is another user
in the future with the same problem.

In the mean time, I have learned from this and will recommend to the client
that before we release the next course based on this template that he allow
me to add logic that logs ODBC error messages to a text file. That way, the
user still won't see it but it would be available in case of problems.

Thanks;

Amy

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

In the mean time, I have learned from this and will recommend to the client
that before we release the next course based on this template that he allow
me to add logic that logs ODBC error messages to a text file. That way, the
user still won't see it but it would be available in case of problems.

Yes, I've done similar on occasion myself although I logged them to the shared BE
database.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/

 

[Amy Blankenship]

Yes, I've done similar on occasion myself although I logged them to the
shared BE
database.

If no communication is happening, then that's not going to work

Thanks;

Amy

 

[Tom Wickerqueer]

what could be wrong on the jet side?

the problem is that you're using jet.

it is a 2nd-rate database program from A to Z.

move to SQL Server

 

[Tom Wickerqueer]

I don't consider an MDB to be a database


move to SQL Server, bitch

and STFU about Access being buggy