Linking to CSV text files is it safe

[Steve]

Hi
If I link to a CSV ( comma seperated value) file does access think of this
as a table with records and behave the same way.
I was wondering what would happen if you had say 5000 records in a text file
and each record had 50 fields Would it be slower than if the 5000 records
were in an Access Table. Can anybody give me some info on problems or limits
on this type of action.
An example of potential problem maybe and could be if the computer over
writes the text file with updated data while the database is reading records
from it.
Any comments most welcome
Steve - From a land down under

 

[Minton M]

Hi
If I link to a CSV ( comma seperated value) file does access think of this
as a table with records and behave the same way.
I was wondering what would happen if you had say 5000 records in a text file
and each record had 50 fields Would it be slower than if the 5000 records
were in an Access Table. Can anybody give me some info on problems or limits
on this type of action.
An example of potential problem maybe and could be if the computer over
writes the text file with updated data while the database is reading records
from it.
Any comments most welcome
Steve - From a land down under

Access makes the CSV file look like a table but it's not that way
under the covers and doesn't offer anything like the performance of a
'real' table. You can get into all sorts of file locking issues,
format problems and other maintenance nasties - I used this method for
a few months on a CSV directory of names/addresses for a firm that
totaled 40,000 rows and it was a nightmare.

Instead, I imported the CSV and handled it from within Access, which
turned out to be much more stable. Is there any reason you want to
stay within the CSV?

-- James

 

[Steve]

the usual thing of course I have a customer with an accounts package that
will only export names and address in CSV Text and the customer wants the
address to use in a Access Quote package that he has created.
So in your opinion its better to update and append files from a CSV to an
Access back end table and let the front ends link to the access back end
table.
Steve - from a land down under

 

[Klatuu]

How you do this will be determined by how much activity there is with the csv
file.
You can overcome formatting issues by creating in import spec. You do that
be manually creating the link (Files, Get External Date, etc). When you get
to the imort wizard, click Advanced. You will be able to define your field
names and data types there. Then click Save As and give it a name. Use the
name in the TransferText. I would do this whether I were going to link or
import the file.