How to copy a linked table to a local table in Ms Access programmatically? - ms-access

Question

So I'd like to copy a linked table to a local one in code, structure and data in MS Access 2003.
Code being : VBA or C#. Or anything else for that matter..
UPDATE : I want the copy structure and data behaviour from ms access to keep the Primary Keys. If you copy a linked table, you can choose to paste it as 'structure and data (local table)'
It is that I want to achieve in code.

Answer 1

My understanding is that DAO does not support the decimal data type, but ADOX does. Here's an updated procedure that uses ADOX instead to copy the schema to a new table.
One interesting item of note: The OLEDB provider for Jet sorts the columns alphabetically rather than by ordinal position as explained in this KB article. I wasn't concerned about preserving the ordinal position, but you may be, in which case you can update this procedure to meet your needs.
In order for the ADOX version of the code to work, you'll need to set a reference to Microsoft ADO Ext. 2.x for DDL and Security (where x = version number; I used 2.8 to test this procedure). You'll also need a reference to ADO as well.
Public Sub CopySchemaAndData_ADOX(ByVal sourceTableName As String, ByVal destinationTableName As String)
On Error GoTo Err_Handler
Dim cn As ADODB.Connection
Dim cat As ADOX.Catalog
Dim sourceTable As ADOX.Table
Dim destinationTable As ADOX.Table
Set cn = CurrentProject.Connection
Set cat = New ADOX.Catalog
Set cat.ActiveConnection = cn
Set destinationTable = New ADOX.Table
destinationTable.Name = destinationTableName
Set sourceTable = cat.Tables(sourceTableName)
Dim col As ADOX.Column
For Each col In sourceTable.Columns
Dim newCol As ADOX.Column
Set newCol = New ADOX.Column
With newCol
.Name = col.Name
.Attributes = col.Attributes
.DefinedSize = col.DefinedSize
.NumericScale = col.NumericScale
.Precision = col.Precision
.Type = col.Type
End With
destinationTable.Columns.Append newCol
Next col
Dim key As ADOX.key
Dim newKey As ADOX.key
Dim KeyCol As ADOX.Column
Dim newKeyCol As ADOX.Column
For Each key In sourceTable.Keys
Set newKey = New ADOX.key
newKey.Name = key.Name
For Each KeyCol In key.Columns
Set newKeyCol = destinationTable.Columns(KeyCol.Name)
newKey.Columns.Append (newKeyCol)
Next KeyCol
destinationTable.Keys.Append newKey
Next key
cat.Tables.Append destinationTable
'Finally, copy data from source to destination table
Dim sql As String
sql = "INSERT INTO " & destinationTableName & " SELECT * FROM " & sourceTableName
CurrentDb.Execute sql
Err_Handler:
Set cat = Nothing
Set key = Nothing
Set col = Nothing
Set sourceTable = Nothing
Set destinationTable = Nothing
Set cn = Nothing
If Err.Number <> 0 Then
MsgBox Err.Number & ": " & Err.Description, vbCritical, Err.Source
End If
End Sub
Here's the original DAO procedure
Public Sub CopySchemaAndData_DAO(SourceTable As String, DestinationTable As String)
On Error GoTo Err_Handler
Dim tblSource As DAO.TableDef
Dim fld As DAO.Field
Dim db As DAO.Database
Set db = CurrentDb
Set tblSource = db.TableDefs(SourceTable)
Dim tblDest As DAO.TableDef
Set tblDest = db.CreateTableDef(DestinationTable)
'Iterate over source table fields and add to new table
For Each fld In tblSource.Fields
Dim destField As DAO.Field
Set destField = tblDest.CreateField(fld.Name, fld.Type, fld.Size)
If fld.Type = 10 Then
'text, allow zero length
destField.AllowZeroLength = True
End If
tblDest.Fields.Append destField
Next fld
'Handle Indexes
Dim idx As Index
Dim iIndex As Integer
For iIndex = 0 To tblSource.Indexes.Count - 1
Set idx = tblSource.Indexes(iIndex)
Dim newIndex As Index
Set newIndex = tblDest.CreateIndex(idx.Name)
With newIndex
.Unique = idx.Unique
.Primary = idx.Primary
'Some Indexes are made up of more than one field
Dim iIdxFldCount As Integer
For iIdxFldCount = 0 To idx.Fields.Count - 1
.Fields.Append .CreateField(idx.Fields(iIdxFldCount).Name)
Next iIdxFldCount
End With
tblDest.Indexes.Append newIndex
Next iIndex
db.TableDefs.Append tblDest
'Finally, copy data from source to destination table
Dim sql As String
sql = "INSERT INTO " & DestinationTable & " SELECT * FROM " & SourceTable
db.Execute sql
Err_Handler:
Set fld = Nothing
Set destField = Nothing
Set tblDest = Nothing
Set tblSource = Nothing
Set db = Nothing
If Err.Number <> 0 Then
MsgBox Err.Number & ": " & Err.Description, vbCritical, Err.Source
End If
End Sub

Answer 2

try docmd.CopyObject or docmd.TransferDatabase

Answer 3

Create this query and execute it
SELECT * INTO MyNewTable FROM LinkedTableName
In VBA you can do
docmd.runsql "SELECT * INTO MyNewTable FROM LinkedTableName"
To keep the structure you would have to do DoCmd.TransferDatabase acImport