Viewing components of Access file

[zrwolf]

The company I work for has recently aquired another company. This second company uses an access based application for project management. I have been assigned the task of looking at what they use, what we use, and begin thinking about where we would like to go from here.

I am interested in looking at the layout of their tables, querys, VBA code, etc. to see what I am getting myself into. They have sent me copies of the various access files. My question (finally) is how do I view this information? When I open the file I get the following message: "Could not use \\server\folder\file.mdb File already open" After this I am not able to use any toolbars or menus.

Thanks for any advice and Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it!

 

[SydneyGeek]

Try importing all the objects into another file or files. If they have sent you a front end / back end setup, import the tables into one new database and everything else (excluding table links) into a second database.
(File | Get External Data | Import). There is an option to include toolbars and menu bars -- click this before doing the import. IF there are no errors, fine. If there are, note the object that they refer to, click OK and keep going. [You may find it useful to take screenshots of any errors and save them in a Word file]. You can return to these later and check them out.
Finally, for the table links, File | Get External Data | Link and link to all of the tables in the backend.
Now you should be able to take a look around.

Denis

 

[Andrew Fergus]

Following on from the suggestion from Denis (a good method which I have used on occasion), there is another thing you might want to try. Have a look in the \\server\folder directory for a file called "file.ldb" (to use your access file name, note the ldb extension). Try deleting this file (using Windows Explorer) and then re-opening the database using Access. This method has also got me out of trouble on occasion.

HTH, Andrew.

 

[zrwolf]

Thank you both for your replies.

I used the import method to move components of the project into new access files. Unfortunatly, many of the components (especially those crucial to the operation) were password protected and could not be imported. I'm going to have to track down this password before I can do much else I think.

I have not tried deleting the .ldb file yet. Would doing this affect anyone who is currently using the database on another machine? Out of curiosity more than anything else, could you explain what an .ldb file is?

Thanks again, as always!

 

[Andrew Fergus]

From the web :

Whenever you open an Access database, a file with the same name as the database and an extension of LDB will be opened automatically. This new file keeps track of users and the objects that require some form of locking in the database. When all users have exited gracefully from the database, the LDB file is closed down and deleted.

If a user abends out of Access then the lock record / file is left behind creating problems for other users. It can be safely deleted provided no-one is using the database at the time.

Andrew

 

[zrwolf]

I've now recieved a copy of the file that is not password protected. Following your advice I have imported the queries, forms, and reports. Howver when I try and import the tables I get the error "Could not Lock File". Any idea why this is or how I can get around it? The file is NOT read-only.

Thanks again!

 

[mdmilner]

It could be that you're attempting to import links, not actual tables and the table isn't available.

The visual cue is an arrow pointing at the table icon in the Table View display.

Try opening the table first in the current app - you might be able to export from the original app to the new mdb file.

Mike