Using SQL in Query that auto updates - ms-access

Question

Thank you beforehand for your assistance. I know enough about Access, SQL, and VBA to get myself into trouble. Here is what I want to do.
I want to create a query that starts with a certain year and then lists each year up until the current year. The problem is that I want the query to automatically update as time progresses. In other words, say the start year is 2009, I want my query to list 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013 since we are currently in the year 2013. Next year, the list will expand to include 2014. I suspect this is possible using a query in SQL but not sure how to go about coding it properly.

Answer 1

I bet that there is no simple solution for this simple process. We must use VBA to perform following steps:
Create a temporary table:
CREATE Table tblTmpYears (
ID COUNTER CONSTRAINT PrimaryKey PRIMARY KEY,
Year Long
);
In VBA:
Dim strSQL
strSQL = "CREATE Table tblTmpYears (" _
& " ID COUNTER CONSTRAINT PrimaryKey PRIMARY KEY," _
& " Year Long" _
& ");"
CurrentDb.Execute strSQL, dbFailOnError
Fill the temporary table:
INSERT INTO tblTmpYears (year) VALUES (2009);
INSERT INTO tblTmpYears (year) VALUES (2010);
INSERT INTO tblTmpYears (year) VALUES (2011);
INSERT INTO tblTmpYears (year) VALUES (2012);
INSERT INTO tblTmpYears (year) VALUES (2013);
In VBA, for 5 years, valid even after 100 years after our life existence:
Dim y as long, ymin, ymax, strSQL
ymax = Year(Date)
ymin = ymax - 4
For y = ymin to ymax
strSQL = "INSERT INTO tblTmpYears (Year) VALUES (" & y & ");"
CurrentDb.Execute strSQL, dbFailOnError
Next
Create a query for listing with the temporary table:
SELECT * FROM tblStudents INNER JOIN tblTmpYears
ON tblStudents.Year=tblTmpYears.Year
ORDER BY Year;
In VBA like this:
Dim qdf, strSQL
strSQL = "SELECT * FROM tblStudents INNER JOIN tblTmpYears" _
& " ON tblStudents.Year=tblTmpYears.Year" _
& " ORDER BY Year;"
Set qdf = CurrentDB.CreateQueryDef("qrySelTemporary", strSQL)
DoCmd.OpenQuery qdf.Name
Here you will have the Query Datasheet Windows with your students's list, it's printable. Even better, you can use it as
MyReport.RecordSource = "qrySelTemporary"
in an Access Report with a beautiful presentation.
Delete the temporary table after printing, for example:
DROP TABLE tblTmpYears;
In VBA:
Dim strSQL
strSQL = "DROP TABLE tblTmpYears;"
CurrentDb.Execute strSQL, dbFailOnError
Only VBA can accomplish this... rather than a single SQL query.

Answer 2

How about this - a small VBA function that outputs the SQL for an appropriate UNION query, which you can then assign as the RowSource for a combo box, use as a sub-query inside another dynamically generated query, or whatever:
Function CreateYearsToCurrentSQL(From As Integer) As String
Dim I As Integer, S As String
For I = From To Year(Date)
If I <> From Then S = S + "UNION "
S = S + "SELECT " & I & " AS Year FROM MSysObjects" + vbNewLine
Next I
CreateYearsToCurrentSQL = S
End Function
The FROM MSysObjects is because Access will whinge about no FROM clause if one isn't there, and MSysObjects is bound to be an existing table in an Access context (if you prefer though, replace it with the name of any other table).

Answer 3

So I managed to create a Query Criteria that does what I need.
Like (Right(Year(Now()),2)-3) & "-" Or Like (Right(Year(Now()),2)-2) & "-" Or Like (Right(Year(Now()),2)-1) & "-" Or Like Right(Year(Now()),2) & "-"
Thank you everyone for your efforts.