How to refresh linked tables in an Access mdb when ODBC changes - ms-access

Question

I can create an Access mdb and add a linked table to an Sql Server database via ODBC. If I change the Sql Server that the ODBC is connecting to with the ODBC control panel applet the mdb still connects to the original Sql Server until Access is restarted.
Is there a way to relink these linked server tables without restarting Access?
EDIT: I would like to do this in code

Answer 1

You can use the code below to refresh all ODBC tables in your Access project to a given DSN.
How to use it
Just copy the code in a new or existing VBA module and, where you want to refresh the links, call it with the proper DSN for the new ODBC connection:
RefreshODBCLinks "ODBC;DRIVER=SQL Server Native Client 10.0;" & _"
"SERVER=SQLSERVER;UID=Administrator;" & _
"Trusted_Connection=Yes;" & _
"APP=2007 Microsoft Office system;DATABASE=OrderSystem;"
Also, have a look at the Access help for the TableDef.RefreshLink method.
Code version 1
Classic way of relinking but Access may keep connection information in memory if the tables have been used before RefreshODBCLinks is called.
Public Sub RefreshODBCLinks(newConnectionString As String)
Dim db As DAO.Database
Dim tb As DAO.TableDef
Set db = CurrentDb
For Each tb In db.TableDefs
If Left(tb.Connect, 4) = "ODBC" Then
tb.Connect = newConnectionString
tb.RefreshLink
Debug.Print "Refreshed ODBC table " & tb.Name
End If
Next tb
Set db = Nothing
End Sub
Code version 2
This will completely re-create the ODBC linked tables: the old ones will be renamed, then new tables using the given DSN will be created before deleting the old linked version.
Please make sure you test this and maybe add some code to better handle errors as necessary.
Note also that the parameter dbAttachSavePWD passed during creation of the ODBC table will save the ODBC password (if any) in Access. Just remove it if that's not what you need.
Public Sub RefreshODBCLinks(newConnectionString As String)
Dim db As DAO.Database
Dim tb As DAO.TableDef
Dim originalname As String
Dim tempname As String
Dim sourcename As String
Dim i As Integer
Set db = CurrentDb
' Get a list of all ODBC tables '
Dim tables As New Collection
For Each tb In db.TableDefs
If (Left(tb.Connect, 4) = "ODBC") Then
tables.Add Item:=tb.Name, key:=tb.Name
End If
Next tb
' Create new tables using the given DSN after moving the old ones '
For i = tables.count To 1 Step -1
originalname = tables(i)
tempname = "~" & originalname & "~"
sourcename = db.TableDefs(originalname).SourceTableName
' Create the replacement table '
db.TableDefs(originalname).Name = tempname
Set tb = db.CreateTableDef(originalname, dbAttachSavePWD, _
sourcename, newConnectionString)
db.TableDefs.Append tb
db.TableDefs.Refresh
' delete the old table '
DoCmd.DeleteObject acTable, tempname
db.TableDefs.Refresh
tables.Remove originalname
Debug.Print "Refreshed ODBC table " & originalname
Next i
Set db = Nothing
End Sub
One last thing: if you're still getting issues that require that you restart Access for the changes to be visible, then have a look at my code in Restarting and compacting the database programmatically on my site.
Note: Code Version 2 was inspired in part from this Access Web article.

Answer 2

What version of Access are you using? In 2000, you can go to Tools>Database Utilities>Linked Table Manager to change your settings.