"No objects need to be updated"

[ESheehan]

I just updated a fields property by increasing the size of a column. I then
received the update icon and selected the affirmative (update objects) but I
received a message saying no objects needed to be udpated. I know this field
is included in a form. Why is the update function not recognizing the form
that contains this variable?

 

[Allen Browne]

If you change the size of a field (e.g. from 50 to 255 characters), no
changes are actually needed in the forms/reports/queries. They just work,
based on the change in the table.

I've not always found this feature (first introduced in A2003) to be useful;
I don't know if that's because I always run with Name AutoCorrect turned
off, and so the data dependency stuff is not available.

 

[ESheehan]

Thanks, Allen, for your response. As a relatively new user, I suppose I'm
just overly concerned that changes I make to the tables are reflected in my
forms. Is there ever a time when a change to a table won't be updated
elsewhere? For example, if I change the name of a field in a table will that
be reflected in its control on the form? To date, when I've changed a field
name, I've gone to the form and deleted the original control and re-inserted
the updated field/control. Mostly for my own peace of mind, but I do seem to
remember some of the controls not reflecting the new field name.

 

[Jeff Boyce]

Pardon my intrusion...

It may be because I've worked more with older versions of Access, but I
understood that (at least in the older versions), a change in a table
definition did NOT affect existing forms, only new ones created after the
table change. Perhaps that's now a "feature", but I'd think that it would
require using TrackNameAutoCorrect, which has had some issues of its own.

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP

 

[ESheehan]

No intrusion at all. Thanks, Jeff, for your input. Again, I'm a novice to
compared to you guys and it's hard to keep track of some of the things
encountered while using Access. Or, rather, I should do a better job of
tracking concerns and questions such as this.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I didn't think some changes were being
reflected in the form. Hence, my deleting controls and re-inserting them
after I had made changes in the table.

Is there any kind of an "override" in Access 2007 that reflects "OK, I've
just made some changes to this table and they affect my form/report/query. Go
ahead, Access, update everything." Or, is that just wishful thinking?

 

[Jeff Boyce]

As I mentioned, the TrackNameAutoCorrect may allow for this, but has had
some issues that could cause problems in other areas.

Since I'm beind the curve on the auto-renaming, you may find that those
(previous) issues have also been resolved.

Good luck!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP

 

[Allen Browne]

As Jeff pointed out, Name AutoCorrect is designed to do this, but it doesn't
work. Has more holes than a swiss cheeze, and causes dozens or other
problems (including crashes):
http://allenbrowne.com/bug-03.html

Some of the other "updates" from design view can be useful. For example,
whatever you enter as the Description of the field in table design, Access
uses for the StatusBarText property in a text box. If you change the
Description later, Access 2003/2007 offers to find the text boxes bound to
this field, and update the StatusBarText for you. That can be useful. (It's
also a little strange: if you change accept the offer, and then cancel the
updates to the table, you end up with your StatusBarText changed, but not
the Description in the table, so they still don't match.)