Secret to getting a response?

J

JMcquillan

Is there a special handshake and a secret word I can use to get a response in
one of these forums? Please, Abracadabra, Gates?

I have asked questions in this as well as the reporting services community
with no feedback. So how about this, what is the best source for help with
Microsoft products such as Access & Reporting Services? Please.
 
A

Allen Browne

You are likely to get a response if you ask a single, clear, relevant,
suitably-sized question, with a subject line that summarizes the issue.

You will probably not get a useful response to:
- Questions that are too broad, such as, "What can I do with Access?"
- Questions that are too big, such as, "How do I design an accounting
database?"
- Questions that are unspecific, such as, "How to I avoid #Error?"
- Questions that ask us to do your work, such as "Can someone write this
code for me?"
- Questions that are off-topic, such as "Where can I get Access work?"

Personally, I don't answer questions I don't understand, and neither do I
answer if I feel the poster could not understand the relevant answer.

For broad suggestions on how to ask questions and get responses:
http://www.mvps.org/access/netiquette.htm#Asking

Now, with regard to your final question:
- Reporting Services is not covered in this newsgroup.
- To find sources of help re Microsoft Access, try Google.

To be a little more specific:
- the site linked above has lots of Access resources;
- the site in the signature below also has Access resources, and a page of
the worthwhile links I am aware of.

HTH.
 
J

John Spencer

I can't speak for everyone and definitely can't speak to your particular
questions since I don't know them.

I tend to respond to postings that are
--clearly stated (what do you want to do, what is wrong with your attempt)
--well formatted (paragraphs and punctuation help)
--limited in scope (Design my database is out of scope, why does this query
return duplicates - possibly in scope)
--include the details needed to understand the problem (error numbers, error
messages, the SQL of the query)
--capable of being solved based on my knowledge. Unless I strongly believe
that what is being asked is impossible I will not respond with "it can't be
done", I will just ignore the post. There is almost always someone that
does know a way.
--that are not self-limiting. // I need to do this, but I don't want to use
a query or any VBA code//
 
B

Brendan Reynolds

I can't find any other posts by 'JMcquillan' in any of the Access
newsgroups. Did you post under another name? The reason I ask is that if I
could look at those previous posts, I *might* have some idea why they didn't
get answers.

Re your recent post in the SQL Server Reporting Services group: I certainly
don't see anything wrong with that question. But taking the weekend into
account, it hasn't been very long. It could simply be that the person or
persons who know the answer to your question don't read the newsgroups at
the weekend. You may just need to give it a little more time.
 
D

David F Cox

I look at the newsgroups with messages ungrouped so I just see the most
recent messages. I look for unanswered questions I never saw yours. I
suspect that there was a delay in it reaching the newsgroup and it came well
off off the page when sorted by date. Having said that, I could not have
helped.
 
J

JMcquillan

Thank you, everyone, for your comments. I guess I just needed to complain a
little to get some feedback. I appreciate all of you advice on proper
etiquette and how to properly word my questions. I can't say that I have not
received any advice from these forums any longer. Unfortunately, I can't say
that I've gotten help with my specifc SQL to Access problem either.
Nonetheless, I'll keep looking and I may even ask a question or two again in
this forum :)
 
J

John Spencer

Hunted and found this from you posted on the 17th.

I haven't seen the problem, so I can't say why you are experiencing it. As
I noted in my original reply, I would normally skip over this since my
knowledge in this area is limited. Things I would ask myself.

Are all the latest updates posted to your applications? (access 2003, SQL
2000)

Are the fields involved decimal fields? Or are any of the SQL 2000 fields
of the Big or Tiny types?

Have you tried using pass-through queries to see if that solves the problem?

Are you positive that your ODBC links point to the same SQL database as you
use when you run the queries in SQL?

Have you tried relinking the tables?

**** Original Message ****
From: "JMcquillan" <[email protected]>
Subject: SQL Server 2000 link tables in Access 2003?
Date: Friday, November 17, 2006 8:41 AM

I have recently upgraded to Access 2003 from Access 2000. Prior to the
upgrade, I used Access with SQL Server 2000 linked tables to do a great deal
of simple reporting tasks and adhoc queries. Since the upgrade, I've found
that my SQL Server 2000 ODBC links are returning incorrect data. No errors,
no indication that anything is wrong, just results that are incorrect when
compared with the results produced when run in SQL directly. Other things
that are occurring running simple selects against link SQL 2000 tables in
Access 2003, group by functions result in repeating column data that is
incorrect & inconsistent results running the same query. Currently, I can't
trust access 2003 to work. Has anyone else experienced these issues? Is it
an
ODBC or Jet problem? Can anyone help?
 
J

JMcquillan

Thanks John. I do appreciate the help.

1) I've installed all the latest application updates (office 2003, access
2003, SQL Server 2000).
2) Updated Jet to SP8
3) Re-linked tables in question after 2003 upgrade
4) Deleted and rebuild SQL Server ODBC drivers
5) SQL Server fields used in query are simple text columns (varchar)

Nothing seems to work.

To better describe, I have a Access 2003 query using a single SQL 2000 ODBC
linked table. My query is select name, city, st, zip and add_type where
add_type = 'P.' The result produces the right number of resultant rows but
the visual result yeilds a variety of values in the add_type column (e.g. P,
M, Inactive). The displayed results are valid field entries, but not the
queried value of 'P'.

I have tested this same query importing the table rather that linking the
table and the result is correct. And I have tested this other linked SQL
Server tables and received the same issues described. If anyone has any
thoughts I would appreciate any advice.
 
R

Rick Brandt

JMcquillan said:
Thanks John. I do appreciate the help.

1) I've installed all the latest application updates (office 2003, access
2003, SQL Server 2000).
2) Updated Jet to SP8
3) Re-linked tables in question after 2003 upgrade
4) Deleted and rebuild SQL Server ODBC drivers
5) SQL Server fields used in query are simple text columns (varchar)

Nothing seems to work.

To better describe, I have a Access 2003 query using a single SQL 2000 ODBC
linked table. My query is select name, city, st, zip and add_type where
add_type = 'P.' The result produces the right number of resultant rows but
the visual result yeilds a variety of values in the add_type column (e.g. P,
M, Inactive). The displayed results are valid field entries, but not the
queried value of 'P'.

I have tested this same query importing the table rather that linking the
table and the result is correct. And I have tested this other linked SQL
Server tables and received the same issues described. If anyone has any
thoughts I would appreciate any advice.

Do you have a primary key defined on the SQL Server table? The reason I ask is
that if you don't then you are prompted to select columns for Access to build a
unique index with when the link is created. If you do that and you pick columns
that do NOT contain unique values then I have seen query results such as you are
describing.
 
J

JMcquillan

Genius. Rick, that appears to have been the issue I was having. The source
table does did not have a primary key defined, but I had selected one during
the definition of the link in Access. I deleted the link, reattached with the
key selected and re-ran the query; the results where correct. Thank you.

Do you have any other info on this? I am in the habit of picking a key on
linked tables regardless because update queries tend to fail without one. It
is a bad habit, but it was convenient.
 
R

Rick Brandt

JMcquillan said:
Genius. Rick, that appears to have been the issue I was having. The source
table does did not have a primary key defined, but I had selected one during
the definition of the link in Access. I deleted the link, reattached with the
key selected and re-ran the query; the results where correct. Thank you.

Do you have any other info on this? I am in the habit of picking a key on
linked tables regardless because update queries tend to fail without one. It
is a bad habit, but it was convenient.

Well it is best to have an actual PK on the table on the server. Then Access
will use it without prompting you.

If you have no PK and you select columns when creating the link then you MUST
select columns that are (in combination) unique in all rows of the table. If
you select columns that are not unique then your updates and deletions made via
the link can affect more than the rows that you want them to. That is a far
more serious problem than the SELECT query issue you were seeing before.
 
J

John Spencer

Well, now at least I know why I had no idea about the failure. I've always
been able to ensure that there was a Primary key in the tables. Hopefully,
I can keep this in the back of mind somewhere - so if it happens to me, I
will have a clue.
 
R

Rick Brandt

John Spencer said:
Well, now at least I know why I had no idea about the failure. I've always
been able to ensure that there was a Primary key in the tables. Hopefully, I
can keep this in the back of mind somewhere - so if it happens to me, I will
have a clue.

Yeah, you get used to seeing this when you have to connect to a lot of legacy
"tables". They often are not only not properly structured "relationally", but
there is no way practical to make them so that they are. You just do the best
you can with the junk you have to work with :)
 

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