I have an Access database with a few tables and several queries. I already have this working perfectly in Access but my boss wants me to replicate the results using excel 2010. I have tried using the MS query inbuilt into excel but I can’t get the SQL query to do the same thing, I have asked several experienced people but they also didn’t know. I have decided to try a different approach.
The users need to regularly update the information in the tables and then re-run the queries. The result is then exported to excel for further manipulation. Would it be possible for me to make the database accessible via runtime. Could I have it so that the user puts all the tables that need updating as excel spreadsheets in a certain folder and then in VBA in excel have the runtime access application update the tables, run the queries and output the results in excel? The main thing is that the users won't have the full access application.
I have had a look around but couldn’t find much on this. If not, any other ideas would be greatly welcome.
From the Access wiki:
The runtime version allows users to view, edit and delete data, along
with running queries, forms, reports, macros and VBA module code. The
runtime version does not allow users to change the design of Microsoft
Access tables, queries, forms, reports, macros or module code.
Therefore, you can send code to the Access runtime version that runs queries that update your data, and have Excel linked to the tables that result from those updates.
Related
I just wanted to know if we can access excel spreadsheet in the same way like we access MySQL database over the internet. Actually I am trying to make an application that will run on multiple computers simultaneously and all the computers will be able to edit or retrieve data on the excel spreadsheet located on the server.
You can use Windows ODBC to create a Data Source that can be accessed like a rational DB. ODBC has a special driver for Excel files, among other formats (Access, CSV, Plain text, ...).
You can access ODBC Data Source Administrator from the Administrative Tools in Windows Control Panel.
Generally this is a bad idea. You can definitely access information in an excel spreadsheet from vb.net, but it can be somewhat buggy, and small issues turn into big issues. You're better off to use SQL Server Express. If you decide to continue to use Excel, you may want to stick with VBA. It's built into excel and although it still may cause issues, it will probably be a lot cleaner.
I have an application that creates an Jet database at run-time, and imports ~100k records so that I can make use of the indexing for performance reasons (1 minute versus nearly 10 when not using a Jet database).
The database is created using ADO Extensibility in Excel, and everything works just fine. However, my issue comes whenever I then open the MDB file in Access front-end, it automatically starts to "repair" the database.
The data is still fine after the "repair", however my main output query can not then be viewed in Access as it tells me it cannot represent the joins, and if I then view it in SQL the required joins are not there, and the query can no longer run. This still happens if I let it get "repaired" but do not open that query, i.e. it is the "repair" that breaks the query, not the act of trying to view it in Access. The funny thing about this is that I used the Access GUI query designer to construct the SQL as my life is too short to worry about it's crazy bracketing style, but it then later decides that it's too complex for itself??
Also, nothing else appears to be affected so I can only assume it's this one query it doesn't like.
This isn't a deal-breaker for me as my fix is to make the MDB hidden and advise users who can see it not to open it.
However, I would really like it if the database could be opened and I didn't have to hide it away like that. Therefore, my question is whether there is any way to prevent the MDB being "repaired" automatically?
Thanks!
Microsoft Access is "repairing" the file when opened because it is missing some tables that are specific to the Microsoft Access user interface. Since you created the MDB file directly using OLEDB with Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0, these tables are not present, and must be created when Access opens the MDB the first time. There are several ways you can circumvent this:
1) Name the MDB something other than .mdb - e.g.: MyAccessDatabase.mad - this will prevent Windows from using Microsoft Access to open the file.
2) Use COM+ to open an instance of Microsoft Access, and have it create the .MDB file. This .MDB file will then have all the necessary tables present and will not need to repair the file.
FYI, whenever Microsoft Access opens an MDB that needs repairing in this fashion, it will inspect all the QueryDef objects for invalid SQL and correct them as necessary. This is why your "complex" query is breaking.
HI!
Does anyone have any idea how to synchronize MS Access data to SharePoint portal. I would like to link both of this together and trigger a workflow upon receiving a new data entry.
Hope you could advice on it.
Thanks!
In Access you can have so called "linked tables". You can have access linked tables with a Sharepoint installation. In Sharepoint this linked table manifests itself as a regular list, so you can have a workflow trigger on each new item created.
There is a nice tutorial here: How to Link SharePoint Server 2007 Lists with Microsoft Access 2007 and for Sharepoint 2010 and Acccess 2010 Microsoft hast written something nice: Synchronize a SharePoint 2010 list with Access 2010.
Additionally let me show you some Screenshots from Access. When you go to External Data > Export > Sharepoint List (see next screen)
When you click on that button you get the following dialog where you can select where to export your table to:
The same dialog you get when you Right click on a table, go to Export > Sharepoint List.
Now if you want to synchronize your data, you need to link that created Sharepoint list to your Access DB. So you click on External Data > Import > From Sharepoint List and you get the following dialog:
When you have a linked table it is synchronized with Sharepoint.
I think you are looking for this article.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-designer-help/add-a-database-as-a-data-source-HA010100908.aspx
Basically, you need to create a new Data Connection Library (pick from the Library list in the "Create" page). And then follow the steps depending on the connection method (i.e. Single Sign-On, custom connection string, or user id/password).
The process involves migrating your access tables to SharePoint. So if you moved or migrate a table in Access to SharePoint AND THEN choose to link the table, then it is a live connection to SharePoint. This is a bi-direction synnc of that table. So any change in Access (any update to that linked table) will see changes sent to the same table (list) in SharePoint. This is a VERY different process then trying to sync a whole file. So power-point files, or even a Access file does not work well at the FILE level, and you don't get any kind of multi-user setup.
However, if you migrate the tables to SharePoint lists, then any sql query you build in Access against that linked table will work just fine. And that includes append query, update query, or just a select for data.
And you can even work against these linked tables in off-line mode. This means that you can continue to update the tables even without network connection. When you do finally get wi-fi or some internet connection, then the data will auto-sync (both ways) and tables will update missing or changed data.
Note that you can even migrate and maintain related data, and SharePoint now supports relations and maintains those relations for you (referential integrity between tables is supported when using Access 2010 (or later) and SharePoint 2010 (or later).
VERY careful steps are required to migrate related tables. Access will migrate and send related tables of data to SharePoint (and maintain the relations for you). You simple have to ensure that your relations are of a type that SharePoint supports.
This means your PK has to be a autonumber ID type, and the foreign key has to be standard long data type. Since this setup is the vast majority of Access relationships, then these types of related tables move rather well to SharePoint. However, if you PK/FK setup is say a string, then such relationships don't work in SharePoint.
The other issue is to keep in mind that performance issues can arise when the row count exceeds 5000 rows when using Office 365 or hosted SharePoint. If your SharePoint system in on-premises then you can turn off some of these limits.
Migration of related data tables is easy, but you need to ensure you setup the relationships using the table lookup wizard in most cases. Sometimes you can use the relationship window, but in most cases, you need to re-build the relationship in a correct way BEFORE you migrate the tables to SharePoint. If your don't have related data, and just a few tables, then you don't really have to do much of anything in Access before you migrate such tables.
As noted, once migrated to SharePoint, then any sql query you execute against such linked tables will work fine. So no need to update the table local, or on SharePoint - the whole process is fully automatic and synced for you.
This video shows how to migrate related data tables to SharePoint if that is your requirement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wdjYIby_b0&t=0s&list=PL27E956A1537FE1C5&index=3
Edit
Given that the tags are for SharePoint 2007, then you will find that access 2010 (or later) and SharePoint 2010 (or later) is required for referential integrity to work. And pre Access 2010, you find performance of linked lists to be rather slow, and table row counts needs to be keep small. (under 10,000 rows).
I'm usually not working with Microsoft products. I have an MS Access 2007 project here, and I know that the MSSQL Server with the Database has some procedures. How can I make them visible? I can just browse trough tables and views...
Thanks and regards,
Jan Oliver
When you say access project, are using the term that you have a project you're working on, or you do specifically mean you're working with an access data project? (ADP). The ms access term ADP has an specific meaning that's very important in your context.
In ms access a good number of developers simply use ODBC linked tables to data is sitting on SQL server. There's also an option in ms access to create what is called a Access Data Project (ADP). When you choose to create an access data project then any view design services such as the relationships editor, table design etc. looks like you're developing inside of the access desktop client, but in fact behind the scenes access is sending DDL (data definition language) commands to SQL server to make those modifications on the server side object. So, you CAN modify server side objects inside of ms-access. No local tables can exist when you create a ADP.
What this means that the version of access and SQL server have to be more closely matched then if you're not using an access data project. If you open up the access database and look in the query table, you should see stored procedures appearing in the list. Access should let you modify them.
So take a look of the file extension, if this is actually an access data project, then the file extension for the access database will be *.adp.
If the file extension is mdb, or accDB, then this is not an access data project, but is a traditional access database in which linked tables to SQL server are being used. This this case of non ADP, then the views and tables you link to will only appear in the tables table. Furthermore ANY design changes you make will be done using the SQL server management tools and NOT the access client. So, changes to tables and views and procedures etc. are NOT made and CAN NOT be made inside of the access client like they can when you're using an access data project. Despite this limitation, most developers prefer using linked tables as opposed to an access data project because of the loose tie between the version of SQL server. In fact you can use even different database servers in these cases such as Oracle or MySql. The other significant advantage of linked (odbc) tables is that the linked tables allows multiple data sources from local files, server based etc. And, you also can have local tables (ADP does not allow local tables in the client).
So your ability to edit or not edit the server side objects inside of access will be determined by the above scenario IF you are in fact using a ADP or not.
I am currently working on a MS Access 2003 mdb file. This mdb file will be converted to an mde file before being published.
How do I go about enabling the reports function of MS Access after conversion? Is there a alternative (open source or free software) to the reporting in MS Access? Any suggestions?
Assuming you mean getting users to creat their own reports in the same FE MDE? This isn't possible as you can't open a form or report in design view in an MDE.
We suggest you give the power user a separate MDB linked to BE database. Along with some starter queries and tell them to "have fun". Providing occasional support on queries, explaining, for example, the difference between the joins.
Also I give my clients an Export to Excel button which copies the reports recordset to Excel. I do not attempt to use the report itself into Excel as that generally looks terrible.
Another issue is to consider why users want to create reports. I frequently get clients requesting two different reports on the same data, one with details, one just a summary. You can actually make that a single report and hide the detail section to get the summary report.
Also, many clients consider a report with different data but the same layout to be a different report, and what they really need is the ability to filter the report output according to their needs.
In my experience, both of these take care of 90% of the scenarios where users think they need to create reports.