It has to do with the data connection method that's being used to access the
data. An older data connection method, DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) is unable
to access the data at the file level. It needs to communicate with the data
at the application level -- it sends commands the application "knows" in
order to complete a task. So if you use the DDE method to connect to your
data the application will start and the data file will open. As far as
resource usage, this method is fairly expensive and not the most efficient.
A new method (well...it's not that new but newer than DDE), OLEDB, (Object
Linking and Embedding Database) has the ability to access the data at the
file level. It doesn't need the application interface in order to read the
contents, nor does it communicate directly with the application. It doesn't
"know" the application commands, it simply knows how to retrieve data that's
stored in the file. As far as resource usage, this is the most efficient.
Which is why it has become the default data connection method.
So if in an Access query you have, say a reference to an Access object, such
as a reference to a control on a form (Forms!FormName!ControlName), OLEBD
doesn't understand object references and the query is suppressed from view.
However, since DDE communicates directly with the application it can execute
the various commands Access uses in order to retrieve the data value in the
control on the form, or run a query that uses a Parameter, and the query
isn't suppressed from view.
As another example, this is why DDE can return a formatted data value and
OLEDB can only return the actual data value that is stored in the data file.
Now, how you identify which data connection method you want to use in an
application depends on the application you are using and the version. For
example one way to force a DDE connection in Excel is to use MS Query. In
Word (mail merge for example) you might be able to select the method you
want to use when you select your data source by using an option in Word,
called Confirm File Conversion on Open". (I say "might" because it depends
on the version and the file format of your data source.) And there are
programming methods that allow one to specify which data connection is used
(along with the ability to issue needed application commands.)
There are other data connection methods which have similar
constraints/pros/cons and it gets far more in-depth than my simple
explanation, of course, but perhaps it will give you a general idea for why
"certain views" will appear and others won't. What it boils down to is the
data connection method you are using and what it can and cannot understand.
Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email cannot be acknowledged.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
Coauthor of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9801.aspx#AboutTheBook
Word FAQ:
http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine:
http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site:
http://mvps.org/