importing table from oracle into external access database using TransferDatabase - vba

Question

i have a bunch of large Oracle tables that need to be imported into MS Access. They each go into its own database, because they're huge. Right now i'm linking them into the database that runs the procedure and then exporting into external databases using INSERT INTO.
Horribly slow.
TransferDatabase is much faster but i don't see how i can use that for external databases.
Is there a way? Or is there a way to do this quickly using some other method? This is part of an automation, so it can't be any manual solutions, has to be VBA.
In case someone is wondering why I'm doing this - these are files that go to requestors as results of a report.

Answer 1

Here's one way you could do it.
Create an Access database called importfile_template.accdb that contains the following:
– a table named import_config with three fields, all ShortText(255)
odbc_connection_string
source_tablename
destination_tablename
– a module containing
Option Compare Database
Option Explicit
Public Function do_import()
Dim cdb As DAO.Database
Set cdb = CurrentDb
Dim tbd As DAO.TableDef
On Error Resume Next
Set tbd = cdb.TableDefs("import_config")
If Err.Number = 0 Then
Dim rst As DAO.Recordset
Set rst = cdb.OpenRecordset("import_config", dbOpenTable)
DoCmd.TransferDatabase acImport, "ODBC Database", "ODBC;" & rst!odbc_connection_string, _
acTable, rst!source_tablename, rst!destination_tablename
rst.Close
Set rst = Nothing
DoCmd.DeleteObject acTable, "import_config"
Set cdb = Nothing
Application.Quit
End If
End Function
– and a macro named AutoExec that simply does
RunCode (do_import())
Then in your main database you can use VBA code like this:
Sub perform_import()
Dim cdb As DAO.Database
Set cdb = CurrentDb
Dim this_filespec As String
this_filespec = CurrentProject.FullName
Dim current_folder As String
current_folder = Left(this_filespec, InStrRev(this_filespec, "\"))
Dim import_filespec As String
import_filespec = current_folder & "zzz_test.accdb" ' my test setting
' VBA project reference required:
' Windows Script Host Object Model
Dim fso As New FileSystemObject
fso.CopyFile current_folder & "importfile_template.accdb", import_filespec
Set fso = Nothing
Dim qdf As DAO.QueryDef
Set qdf = cdb.CreateQueryDef("")
qdf.SQL = _
"UPDATE [" & import_filespec & "].import_config SET " & _
"odbc_connection_string = prm_odbc, " & _
"source_tablename = prm_source, " & _
"destination_tablename = prm_destination"
qdf!prm_odbc = "DSN=mssqlLocal" '
qdf!prm_source = "ThousandRows" ' my test settings
qdf!prm_destination = "thousand_rows" '
qdf.Execute dbFailOnError
qdf.Close
Set qdf = Nothing
Set cdb = Nothing
Dim wsh As New WshShell
wsh.Run import_filespec
Set wsh = Nothing
End Sub
Note: When opening importfile_template.accdb from within Access be sure to hold down the Shift key to prevent the AutoExec macro from running.