Access Table reordering misaligned

D

DeltaGamma

Have a simple table in an MDB (MSA 2K). For reasons we cannot determine, the
table sometimes "reorders£" itself. Importantly, the columns/fields become
completely messed up since the data is now "misaligned".

This is a very dangerous and expensive problem, since we do not even know
when/why it happens, and it can destroy important information relationships,
and it is very difficult to correct.

1) what causes this?
2) how can it be stopped? (is there an "undo"?, can field alignment be
"locked"? etc)

Please advise
 
D

Dirk Goldgar

DeltaGamma said:
Have a simple table in an MDB (MSA 2K). For reasons we cannot
determine, the table sometimes "reorders£" itself. Importantly, the
columns/fields become completely messed up since the data is now
"misaligned".

This is a very dangerous and expensive problem, since we do not even
know when/why it happens, and it can destroy important information
relationships, and it is very difficult to correct.

1) what causes this?
2) how can it be stopped? (is there an "undo"?, can field alignment be
"locked"? etc)

Please advise
Click to expand...

I don't understand what you mean. Can you describe this reordering in
more detail, and if possible give examples?
 
J

John Vinson

Have a simple table in an MDB (MSA 2K). For reasons we cannot determine, the
table sometimes "reorders£" itself. Importantly, the columns/fields become
completely messed up since the data is now "misaligned".

This is a very dangerous and expensive problem, since we do not even know
when/why it happens, and it can destroy important information relationships,
and it is very difficult to correct.

1) what causes this?
2) how can it be stopped? (is there an "undo"?, can field alignment be
"locked"? etc)

Please advise
Click to expand...

Is this a "split" database, i.e. linked from a frontend to a backend
with the tables? I've seen cases where the table in the backend is
fine but the link gets fouled up in this way (data from one field
appears to be in a different field, etc.); refreshing the links with
Tools... Database Utilities... Linked Table Manager or with code seems
to fix the problem. Also, does Compacting the database cure - or
cause! - this problem?

John W. Vinson[MVP]
Join the online Access Chats
Tuesday 11am EDT - Thursday 3:30pm EDT
http://community.compuserve.com/msdevapps
 
D

DeltaGamma

The table is "dead simple" it has simply has contact information such as
name, address,etc. One field, for example, is job title. On some occasions,
we open the table and the fields are "jumbled" for example, if on entry one
record was something like

Dr. A, Head of Department
Mr. B, Vice President
:
Miss C, Executive Director

then on some occasions it may "all of a sudden" become

Dr. A, Vice President
Mr. B, Executive Director
:
Miss C, Head of Department

there is no apparent pattern to the reordering, and other fields (e.g. phone
nums) are also jumbled.
 
J

John Vinson

The table is "dead simple" it has simply has contact information such as
name, address,etc. One field, for example, is job title. On some occasions,
we open the table and the fields are "jumbled" for example, if on entry one
record was something like

Dr. A, Head of Department
Mr. B, Vice President
:
Miss C, Executive Director

then on some occasions it may "all of a sudden" become

Dr. A, Vice President
Mr. B, Executive Director
:
Miss C, Head of Department

there is no apparent pattern to the reordering, and other fields (e.g. phone
nums) are also jumbled.
Click to expand...

This is EXCEEDINGLY strange. I've never seen nor heard of this
happening!

I'm terribly busy through this next weekend; if nobody else jumps in
before then with a suggestion, would you be willing to compact,
WinZip, and email me the database? I presume (having had this happen)
that you keep daily backups so you can fall back to a good version? If
so, perhaps you could send me a "clean" and a "garbled" version for
comparison. I'd be glad to take a look at it.

My email address is jvinson <at> wysardofinfo <dot> com. Others please
note: *unsolicited* databases will be deleted unopened; consulting
proposals will be graciously received, however!

John W. Vinson[MVP]
Join the online Access Chats
Tuesday 11am EDT - Thursday 3:30pm EDT
http://community.compuserve.com/msdevapps
 
C

Chuck Wood

Are the listings separated by commas indicating fields or are they all one
field?
 
D

DeltaGamma

there is nothing special about any of this. The data was exported from
Outlook, and now the OL contacts reside as fields in the MDB table.
 
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