Ms access

[Peoplesoft bloke]

I am looking at a legacy app written in access. Basically it reads data from a number of spreadsheets and validates the data and consolidates it into a single file which clientco sends to another system.
Today is the first time I've seen it in action and the thing I find odd is that the import/validation process actually opens each excel sheet on screen - I am not an Access expert but shirely it doesn't need to do that?

[KevinS]

No, it doesn't.. Excel (or the worksheet) has a visible property which, when set to false, just runs Excel in the background.

[chef]

MS Access.. oh those were the days, does anyone actually use this to build new dbs?

[KevinS]

Students on 'work experience'..

[RichardCranium]

On quite a few client sites I have recommended the writing of a virus to go round the LAN and delete anything matching *.mdb on the C: drives.

At all sites bar one they thought it was a good idea. Whether they have implemented it, I'm unsure.

(The exception was a utility, unsurprisingly.)

[Peoplesoft bloke]

MS Access.. oh those were the days, does anyone actually use this to build new dbs?

dunno this is an old app we are replacing but I was curious to know if we could improve it in the interim

[Not So Wise]

Peoplesoft, you can just open the excel document behind the sceens if they are using the method i think they are, just step though the code until you identify there it opens the files and then just read to documentation on the command used, it's a simple switch command

On quite a few client sites I have recommended the writing of a virus to go round the LAN and delete anything matching *.mdb on the C: drives.

At all sites bar one they thought it was a good idea. Whether they have implemented it, I'm unsure.

(The exception was a utility, unsurprisingly.)

Actually wrote something like this at one job, just did not delete them,moved them to a quarantine zone instead, leaving a placeholder for the user to contact IT to explain why they had Access databases they had not informed IT about.

Result: Close to 30,000 Access databases and phone's ringing off the hook for a month of two. But it did pretty much solve "their Access problem"

[PRC1964]

Can't you just attach the Excel spreadsheets in the database and then use them as if they were native access tables?

[Bright Spark]

There are serveral reason why excel is visible

1) so that the user could see any error messages that pop up

2) if the excel file is blank for some reason he/she knows straight away
something is wrong.

3) perhaps a recorded excel macro is run on the sheet, most recoreded
macros need excel to be visible.

4) It's a signal so once excel files have closed down there is probably a long
time involved in loading the data, so could opportunity to go for a coffee.

5) makes them look like they are doing some work.

HTH

[RichardCranium]

dunno this is an old app we are replacing but I was curious to know if we could improve it in the interim

It ain't broke so STOP FIXING IT.

Actually wrote something like this at one job, just did not delete them,moved them to a quarantine zone instead. Result: it did pretty much solve "their Access problem"

Balls of steel, man, balls of steel.