Access 2000 and 2003 compatability

[Franc Sutherland]

Hello everyone,

I have made a system in Access 2003, but in the Access 2000 format, as the
end-user has 2000 on his PC. However, the mdb file is not proving to be very
stable.
It has started to not recognise the date() function, which meant I had to go
through all the queries and VBA changing date() to now(). Also, I had to do
this on my own machine, as I could not access the VB editor for this file
through the Access 2000 programme. To check whether the VBE in the 2000 was
working at all, I created a new database and did ALT = F11, and it was
working fine. For some reason, the VBA project is completely locked in the
file I created using 2003. It is not an MDE file, and I have never saved it
in 2003 version, but, always in 2000 version. Can anyone explain why I can't
get into the VBE when I open the mdb file in the 2000 version?
I would really appreciate your help, this is starting to become a problem.
Many Thanks,
Franc Sutherland.

 

[Allen Browne]

Okay, Franc, there's a few possible issues here.

Firstly, it could be an issue with Library References. Details:
http://allenbrowne.com/ser-38.html

If that doesn't solve the problem, there's a pretty good chance that a
decompile will fix it. Each version of Access has a different binary for the
compiled code. Access 2000 can't use the A2003 binary, so what it's supposed
to do is ignore that binary and generate its own 2000 binary. It doesn't
work perfectly, so you need to issue a decompile to explicitly discard the
A2003 binary, and allow A2000 to create its own. (A2003 can use the A2000
binary.)

Here's a standard set of steps to handle a whole raft of issues that could
apply. Perform them in order:

1. Uncheck the boxes under:
Tools | Options | General | Name AutoCorrect
Explanation of why:
http://allenbrowne.com/bug-03.html

2. Compact the database to get rid of this junk:
Tools | Database Utilities | Compact/Repair

3. Close Access. Make a backup copy of the file. Decompile the database by
entering something like this at the command prompt while Access is not
running. It is all one line, and include the quotes:
"c:\Program Files\Microsoft office\office\msaccess.exe" /decompile
"c:\MyPath\MyDatabase.mdb"

4. Open Access (holding down the Shift key if you have any startup code),
and compact again.

5. Open a code window.
Choose References from the Tools menu.
Uncheck any references you do not need.
For a list of the ones you typically need in your version of Access, see:
http://allenbrowne.com/ser-38.html

6. Still in the code window, choose Compile from the Debug menu.
Fix any errors, and repeat until it compiles okay.

At this point, you should have a database where the name-autocorrect errors
are gone, the indexes are repaired, inconsistencies between the text- and
compiled-versions of the code are fixed, reference ambiguities are resolved,
and the code syntax is compilable.

If it is still a problem, the next step would be to get Access to rebuild
the database for you. Follow the steps for the first symptom in this
article:
Recovering from Corruption
at:
http://allenbrowne.com/ser-47.html

--
Allen Browne - Microsoft MVP. Perth, Western Australia

Reply to group, rather than allenbrowne at mvps dot org.

message

 

[Franc Sutherland]

Hi Allen,

That's been really useful, a great help. Many thanks for taking the time
and effort to help me out.

Kind Regards,

Franc.