I am having an issue with my Microsoft Access database. One of my tables looks completely blank, but it has 11632 records listed in the bottom. Take a look at this screenshot. Though the table shows up blank, when I run the query it pulls the correct data from this table, so I know the data is there, it is just not appearing for some reason. I have tried on Access 2013 and 2016 on a different computer, and both have the same effect. I have also tried compacting and repairing, and also exporting the table but the file it exports to also appears blank, aside from the field names. Any ideas on what I could try?
Thanks!
Turn your import into a 2 step process (or more...). Write it raw into a scratch pad table. Then fire an append query, that has the appropriate criteria to result in only valid records going into the final table.
This isn't unusual at all given that some outside data sources may not have the controls to prevent bad records. Sometimes one must "wash" the data with several different query criteria/steps in order to filter out the bad guys.
Related
Here's my situation. We have an application that uses sybase to store it's data on the back-end.
Please refer to my screenshots below for better understanding of what I'm talking about.
In our application, we have some custom "tabs" (columns in the db) which are supposed to contain data on the db tables. When opening and viewing in the application, these tabs contain data (so they must reside somewhere...), however when you query the table they're supposedly residing under, there's no data to be found. These columns should not contain all null values!
In this example, "trainer" is one of the columns which should contain data. I do a [sp_columns #column_name = 'trainer'] and see that it supposedly resides under table "user_tab_data" (screenshot 1).
Expanding user_tab_data in our sql browser, we see the data points we need to query (training date, training course, trainer, etc.), however when querying for the values, nothing comes up! We can see when opening the application that there is indeed data stored somewhere though.
Is there anything I can do to locate this? Am I missing something here? Any help is appreciated.
Thank you
sp_columns to find table name
query showing that table contains null values
Well this is embarrassing. I figured it out. There was just so many entries on the table that you could scroll for hours and not see any entries where the columns I wanted had any data.
I had to do 'is not NULL' to pull only the ones I wanted to see.
Duh.
Searching this problem returns quite a few search hits, but many off-track answers, so I'm posting a concise description here, and answer below.
The problem afflicts Microsoft Access 2010, and some versions before. Access 2013 renames Memo type to Long Text. I don't know if it has the same problem.
The root problem is associated with running an UPDATE query on a table with a memo field, in certain particular circumstances. This might be an UPDATE query composed in the visual query window, or some VBA running SQL via DAO or ADO or similar. Or it could arise while updating via a form.
(The current post is concerned with this occurrence just within an Access database, though elsewhere you will find discussion of similar-sounding issues when Access is connected to an external database server.)
Instead of generating an immediate and obvious error alert, Access (or perhaps Jet) places the value #Error (which is not just the string "#Error"!) into the Memo field. This might easily go unnoticed until some later time, resulting in visible errors such as:
-- You use Compact and Repair. That seems to complete, but Access quietly adds a MSysCompactError table with a couple of rows. One error -1611 complains that Access was stopped and couldn't complete the operation. A second, more-specific-seeming error complains that it can't find field "Description". That appears to be an internal error that has no relevance.
-- You try to copy the table to another database. Access gives an error complaining that another user is using the table or has updated the table, and won't complete the operation.
-- Other operations on the rows that, unnoticed by you, happen to contain the #Error values fail.
Regardless, the root problem is whatever causes the #Error values to get placed into the Memo fields in the first place.
Many posters have noted that it occurs if the UPDATE attempts to put strings longer than about 2000 characters into the Memo field. That's a surprise, as Memo fields should be able to hold 1 gig characters or more depending on version, even if it only allows 65k through the UI.
So why does the error occur when Updating using >2000 characters?
The key factor that provokes this error is the Memo field having an index. Apparently, although the Memo type field can hold a bazillion characters, the index can't deal with more than about 2000.
Knowing that this is the precipitating factor, probably a number of workarounds come to mind. First, you can obviously just disable the index. This solution is easy to verify in a dummy database: Create two tables containing Memo fields, one with an index and the other without. Run update queries that put >2000 characters into each Memo and note the results.
But perhaps you think you need the index? Your use case might be satisfied if you create a second field that will contain an initial substring of the main Memo (shorter than 2000 characters), and index that instead. This could be used for sorting purposes for example. In most cases, where a memo contains narrative information, it's unlikely that the memo data values differ only after 2000 characters. Or perhaps you can devise a hash function and make a separate column of that.
What if you have a database that already contains these #Error values? Some advice floating around on the web, especially in relation to downstream problems like failure of Compact and Repair, suggests that your database is corrupt and should be abandoned. I'm not so sure. If you can delete the #Error-afflicted rows, then delete the index, and then recreate the deleted rows, you may be back in business. Compact and Repair should run properly at that point, giving some confidence that you fixed the offending part. (Make backups along the way, obviously.)
Workaround solution
Create two macros (Macro1 Macro2)
Macro 1
Get all the necessary information from the open form which includ this long text and close it.
Macro 2
Insert all needed actions (starting with the update query that you get error)
Create a form (Form_on_error) with only a button that run Macro2
Finally add at the end of macro 1
On Error
Go to :Macro Name
Macro Name: On_Error_2590
RunMacro Macro2
Submacro On_error_2590
OpenForm (Form_on_error)
End Submacro
.......and it works !!!
So, only when the update query get error, the user must click the button on the form : Form_on_error
I'm experiencing something strange when joining SQL tables.
Let's say I want to output an image for each result where
tableA.FullNameA = tableB.FullNameB
I am entering the data in table B with a php form. To my human eyes, the names I have are identical in both columns. However, it does not detect a match. If I then manually go into the db and copy and paste the name from tableA.FullNameA to tableB.FullNameB (and when it is overwritten, there is no discernible change to the text) then it miraculously matches and my join is successful.
Is this something to do with encoding of the data when it is added to the DB? I have never come across this before - does anyone recognise this issue?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Before I begin I found this to be most relevant with the research I have done.
How to split the data from one column into separate columns using the contents of another column in SQL
Attached are pictures of my progress so far. How can I display this information such as it is shown in the excel file without disrupting the GROUP BY filter in my Query?
It's a Fishbowl Database, newest version. I am running the queries through Flamerobin which you see in the picture. Trying to organize the query to display correctly so I can format it into 'iReports' and export it into an excel spreadsheet like the one shown. Maybe there is some part of this that would better be done in excel?
Notice the numbers for Qty are different, that's ok right now.
My reputation is too low to post pictures I am sorry. Here are the two JPGs in my Dropbox. I really appreciate the help.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/r2rw5r2awsyvzs9/AAAXXg27CMPOYtZFqPX3Dx6la?dl=0
I have a table in Access linked to a SharePoint list. The table is comprised of about 15 fields whose contents are originally pulled from another data source (in Excel format). There are an additional 10 or so fields after the original 15 that make up a questionnaire (added via SharePoint) that contain answers to questions about the first 15 fields.
The data in the first 15 fields needs to be updated periodically when new data from my external source is available to download. A lot of the information will remain the same, however some of the fields within each of the rows will change and need to be updated. It is also important that the 10 fields that contain the questionnaire are not modified at all during this process.
Is there a way for me to easily update the cells that have changed using an Update query or something similar? The data does have a unique identifier column (ID NUMBER) that is present on the current SharePoint list and the external data source.
I was thinking from a logical standpoint to put the new external data into a table, find the ID Number in the SP list and new external data, compare the values in the rest of the row on the SP list to the row of the external data, and if a value is different update the cell with the value from the external data. Not sure how to accomplish this using Access queries though.
I really appreciate any help at all! If you need more information, please let me know. If you think there's a more logical way to do this, please let me know your feedback!!
Here's how to get started:
http://workerthread.wordpress.com/2009/02/03/using-access-2007-to-update-sharepoint-lists/
After you get the connection set up, it's just a matter of writing the queries correctly. If you need to run multiple queries periodically, you can setup a form with buttons, and attach some VBA code to the buttons that runs the queries.
MS Access - execute a saved query by name in VBA