Database is missing Forms

[DIOS]

OK here is my setup...on our server resides an Access97 database. On
my desktop #1 I have Office97 installed so I use it to develop and
maintain the database. Just recently I added seceral forms and tweaked
it. All looks good and the rest of the users have Office97 so they can
open and add records to the database.

Now I go to my desktop #2 on which i have Office2000. I open the
database and open it but I do not see the changes. When I initially
opened it, Access2000 asked me if i wanted to open it or convert
it....i chose to open it. Why can I not see the changes from my
desktop #2. I already repaired and compacted the database but i still
do not see the changes.

AGP

 

[Wayne Morgan]

When you chose to open it, you probably also received a message saying that
you can't make structural changes to the file until it is converted.

 

[DIOS]

But I am not making any structural changes. All i want to
do is add records from desktop #2...the one with Access2000.
When I open it with Access2000 none of the changes i made
when I opened it with Access97 are displayed. I only view and add
records with Access2000 like so:


Desktop#1 with Access97 ------------>
-------------> Database in
Access97 format.
Desktop#2 with Access2000 ------------>

I develop with desktop#1 and add forms and code and such. When im done
i go to desktop#2 and open up the database. None of my changes are
displayed.

AGP

 

[Wayne Morgan]

If you go back to Desktop1 with the Access 97 are the changes still there?
If so, it sounds as if you have a copy of your database file that you're
opening with Access 2000 instead of the same file. Are the 2 computers
linked through a network or are you copying the file to Desktop2?

 

[DIOS]

yes...all changes are there when i go back to desktop#1 and open the
database. I am on a corporate network and my two desktops are linked
to several servers. On one of these servers is where the database
resides and again the database is in Access97 format. I am opening the
exact same database on the exact same server, i am just using two
different desktops to get to it.

AGP

 

[Wayne Morgan]

In that case, the only thing I can think of is that some of the items have
their hidden property set and you are showing hidden items in the 97 options
dialog.

Do you have user level security set? This should keep you from accessing
certain items, but I don't believe it will keep you from seeing that they're
there.

If you take a copy of the file to desktop2 and open that file, what happens?
Are you running any software that may be "caching" your connections,
although I don't have a clue as to what it may be, and you're still seeing
an old copy on desktop2? If you browse to the location of the file from
desktop2 what are the file size and time. Do they concur with what you see
from desktop1 and does the time match the last edit time from desktop1?

 

[DIOS]

yes...all changes are there when i go back to desktop#1 and open the
database. I am on a corporate network and my two desktops are linked
to several servers. On one of these servers is where the database
resides and again the database is in Access97 format. I am opening the
exact same database on the exact same server, i am just using two
different desktops to get to it.

AGP

 

[DIOS]

None of the forms are hidden and options in Access2000 are similar to
the Access97 options. I say that because I think there are additional
options in Access2000 that are not in Access97. No user level
security...just plain ol' databases with forms and code and
tables...not extremely complicated either.

What I did discover though was this: I open up the database in
desktop#1 with Access97 and then I go to my code section and force a
compile of all modules by adding a comment or something. Then I go to
my desktop#2 with Access2000 and open the database. I then get the
dialog to 'Convert' or 'Open' the database. I choose 'Open' and then I
can see in the statusbar that Access2000 is re-compiling the database
and then opening it. Once that happens my new forms and code are
there!!!! So there must be a cached version of the database
structure somewhere and thats what Access2000 is displaying. The
records are there but new forms and code just do not show up without
recompiling the code. Which brings me to a question...why does it work
this way? What if you have a form with no code...just controls and
everything linked through the properties page. How can you make sure
that Access2000 will show the latest changes?

AGP

 

[Wayne Morgan]

Well, you found how to make it work, that's the first step.

When you open it in 2000, as mention earlier, you get the "can't make
changes" notice. If you note, if you reopen it in 2000, it doesn't prompt
you again about the conversion, so there is something being written to the
database by the newer version that lets it know to use what is there,
whether it stores a "mini conversion" or what, I don't know. Apparently, the
"can't make changes" doesn't just apply to making the changes in 2000, it
means ANY changes. When you force a recompile in 97, I'm guessing that
you're overwriting whatever it is that 2000 does to flag itself that it has
already "seen" that file so it goes though the process again and can now see
the changes.

Thanks for sticking with me on this one, I learned something.