saving design changes in a shared database

[truksnosrap]

We recently upgraded to Access 2003. Our department is a 24/7 security
environment and the database used is always open by one or more staff
members. As the database admin, I cannot ever get exclusive access to the
database. In Access 97 I could make and save changes to a form/module then
have the staff close and reopen the database when convenient to access the
new version. Is there anything comparable that I could do in Access 2003?

 

[Rick B]

Yes, you need to split your database. The data (backend) should live on a
server or shared resource. This should contain only your tables.

The interface (front-end) should be copied and placed on each PC that will
use your database. This should only contain the forms, queries, reports,
etc. and LINKED tables to your backed. No actual data lives here.

You would keep a master copy of this file on your PC. When you modify a
form, report, etc. you'd distribute an updated copy of the front-end. There
are tools out there to automatically distribute updated copies. You can
also have the front-end check a value in a table (that you maintain) when it
is opened to see what the most recent version of the front-end is. If the
copy being used is not that version, then a batch file could run to copy the
new one from the LAN to the PC. To do this little trick, you would need to
have one real table in the front-end that holds the "local" version and
could be compared to the "remote" master version.

Form more details, search the previous posts. Look for "split database" or
"front-end" Tony Towes (spelling?) has a lot of information on split
databases and has written a handy tool to distribute them.

Please note, this is asked and answered all the time. In the future, I'd
suggest you search for your answers before posting a new thread. The
easiest way I have found is to go to www.google.com, click the "groups"
options, and enter a search string starting with the following...

microsoft.public.access

followed by search keywords.

for example...

microsoft.public.access front end split Tony

good luck,