Access queries have very bad manners

G

GPO

Access 2000 on Win XP Pro
This might be a gripe, or it might be a request for advice, I'm not sure
which. When I run Access queries that take a very long time (say between 10
mins and 10 hours), the query seems to NEVER relinquish control of the CPU in
an entirely satisfactory way. I have arrived at this possibly misinformed
conclusion not through any understanding of the facts, more through
observation.

In my long queries, if my screensaver comes on, or I open a new window (say
Windows Explorer), the Access window does not repaint until the query has
completed (say 10 mins to 10 hours later). This is very irritating because I
routinely:
a) set up a list of action queries, then
b) fire an event to from cmdX on a frmY to loop through them,
c) go away and do other things,
d) come back some time later to see how things are progressing (I should
also mention that I have a form has a text box on it that displays the
progress).

All the DoEvents statements in the world, at the end of each loop, are of no
use to me when I'm in the middle of a long query.

Having said all of that, I am curious as to how the progress bar at the
bottom of queries run via the QBE works. Is it possible to hack into this
somehow and use it to invoke periodic DoEvents-type functionality? Clearly
this part of Access is able to montor the progress of a query, it is not
clear to me though how to harness this (or indeed whether I can).
 
Top