Form Appears Blank in Read Only .mdb

[AlwaysFroosh!]

I have an mdb file that is located in a folder on our network where only I
have write permissions. The mdb file has one form that views data from a
linked table in another mdb file. When other users open the mdb file located
in the read only directory, the message pops up "The database "*.mdb" is
read-only. You won't be able to save changes made to data or object
definitions in this database." This is fine, they don't need to save any
changes. But when the form loads it is totally blank. How can I resolve this?

Thanks,
Graham

 

[Ken Snell \(MVP\)]

Sounds like the form's DataEntry property is set to Yes, which means that
the form will only allow the addition of new records and won't allow the
viewing of existing records. Or you're opening the form using the
"acFormAdd" argument for the DataMode argument of DoCmd.OpenForm method.

If the database is read-only, it won't allow the addition of new records,
hence the blank form.

 

[AlwaysFroosh!]

Thanks for the quick response Ken, unfortunately that didn't do it. The
form's DataEntry property is set to No. I load the form by selecting it in
the Display Form/Page: list in the Startup dialog under the Tools menu.

Graham

 

[Dirk Goldgar]

In

Thanks for the quick response Ken, unfortunately that didn't do it.
The form's DataEntry property is set to No. I load the form by
selecting it in the Display Form/Page: list in the Startup dialog
under the Tools menu.

But are there any records for it to display? If there are no records to
display, and none can be added (in this case, because the database is
read-only), then the form will be blank.

 

[AlwaysFroosh!]

Yup, there's data. I have another .mdb file with a whole bunch of other stuff
in it stashed away on another server that is not mapped to most users
computers. The .mdb that I want them to be using just links to one table only
in the other file and allows them to view the data.

I don't know why I didn't try it before, but tomorrow I will make sure that
the file works for these other users if it is placed into a folder where they
have write access.

Graham

 

[yuqia]

Y

In

But are there any records for it to display? If there are no records to
display, and none can be added (in this case, because the database is
read-only), then the form will be blank.

--
Dirk Goldgar, MS Access MVP
www.datagnostics.com

(please reply to the newsgroup)

 

[Dirk Goldgar]

In

Yup, there's data. I have another .mdb file with a whole bunch of
other stuff in it stashed away on another server that is not mapped
to most users computers. The .mdb that I want them to be using just
links to one table only in the other file and allows them to view the
data.

I don't know why I didn't try it before, but tomorrow I will make
sure that the file works for these other users if it is placed into a
folder where they have write access.

Make sure that, when you open the form, it actually returns records, as
opposed to coming up on an empty new record. You say there are records
in the table; check the recordsource property of the form to make sure
its based on the table directly, and not on a query of the table that
might be excluding some records. If the form is based on a query, open
that query to see if it returns any records and is updatable.

 

[AlwaysFroosh!]

There you go, you got it! Thanks Dirk.

I had forgotten that I had changed the recordsource of the form to a
temporary table when I was first setting it up and debating which way to go.
Since all of the controls on the form just query the linked table, which I've
hidden from the database, the underlying recordsource is kind of usesless.
I've kept the temp table as the record source, but added a dummy record and
voila, works like a charm.

However, that just leads me to another question. Why would the form have
worked for me?? I never had a problem on my computer.

Thanks,
Graham

 

[Dirk Goldgar]

In

There you go, you got it! Thanks Dirk.

I had forgotten that I had changed the recordsource of the form to a
temporary table when I was first setting it up and debating which way
to go. Since all of the controls on the form just query the linked
table, which I've hidden from the database, the underlying
recordsource is kind of usesless. I've kept the temp table as the
record source, but added a dummy record and voila, works like a charm.

However, that just leads me to another question. Why would the form
have worked for me?? I never had a problem on my computer.

You said at the outset that you have write permissions on the folder
containing the .mdb file. Since you have write permissions, the
database isn't read-only for you; therefore, you can add records if
need be, so the form's detail section isn't blank.

I'm somewhat confused about why the form is based on a temp table,
whether empty or dummy, if all the controls on the form query a
different, linked table. Why isn't the form either unbound, or else
bound to the linked table?

 

[AlwaysFroosh!]

Oh yeah, that makes sense about the write permissions.

Can you make an unbound form? I don't know how to do that. The reason I
didn't make the form bound to the linked table is because I don't want
anything to be changed in the linked table. The form only has a list box
which shows the data from the linked table, and then some unbound text boxes
where they can propose modifications to the table. They can either click on
one of the existing entries in the list and that will populate the text
boxes, and then modify them. Or they can propose a whole new entry. After
they are done, they press a button and the changes they propose are e-mailed
to me.

An unbound form would definitely work. How would I do that?

 

[Dirk Goldgar]

In

Oh yeah, that makes sense about the write permissions.

Can you make an unbound form? I don't know how to do that. The reason
I didn't make the form bound to the linked table is because I don't
want anything to be changed in the linked table. The form only has a
list box which shows the data from the linked table, and then some
unbound text boxes where they can propose modifications to the table.
They can either click on one of the existing entries in the list and
that will populate the text boxes, and then modify them. Or they can
propose a whole new entry. After they are done, they press a button
and the changes they propose are e-mailed to me.

An unbound form would definitely work. How would I do that?

Simply clear the form's Record Source property. That's on the Data tab
of the form's property sheet in design view.

 

[AlwaysFroosh!]

Oh come on, there's got to be more to it than that!! But no, you're
absolutely correct. I swear I did try just blanking it out, but I got an
error when I loaded the form the next time saying something about the forms
source was invalid, so I thought you couldn't do that. But alas, when I tried
it this time it did exactly what you said it would do!!

Thanks Dirk, all is well now.

Graham