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
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I have an Azure SQL database, and my records inside table Spiderfood_RITMData in that database includes 13 different fields. Lots of stuff. I have confirmed in SQL-SMS that the records have data in each field.
There are way more items in the database than PowerApps can see using LOOKUP (1600-9000 records or more). However, I know FOR A FACT that there is only ONE record that has any given value in the NUMBER column. It's not a primary key, but it is unique in the table.
In PowerApps, I am trying to pull that field so that I can eventually parse out the individual items.
So, the commands I'm trying are:
ClearCollect(MLE_test1, Filter('Spiderfood_RITMData', "RITM2170467" in Number));
ClearCollect(MLE_test2, Search('Spiderfood_RITMData',"RITM2170467", "Number"));
However, the Collection results for MLE_test1 and MLE_test2 both are empty EXCEPT for the value of NUMBER. Say what?!
I'm trying to use the examples posted on https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powerapps/maker/canvas-apps/functions/function-filter-lookup but I am honestly getting baffled by this.
How should I be formatting this call such that I can pull the whole record?
Big picture explanation: I need to do a lot of data LOOKUPS into my table Spiderfood_RITMData table, but it has way more than 2000 rows, and PowerApps will not perform the Lookup correctly. So my presumably smart idea is to create a MUCH SMALLER "version" of Spiderfood_RITMData as a local collection, using a more delegateable function (such as FILTER or IN). If I filter by all records containing the values of NUMBER, then I go from, say a 10,000-record SQL table to a 10-record Collection. And I can do LOOKUPS against that collection for the rest of the function (uh, I think -- I'm still trying to experiment accordingly). Please let me know if this is crazy or not.
LookUp is just used to get one record, instead try this:
ClearCollect(MLE_test1, Filter('Spiderfood_RITMData', "RITM2170467" = Number));
This gets a collection with all the items where Number is = to "RITM2170467"
Collections are limited to only 2000 records in each collections.
I had same issue. Go to App settings. Under Upcoming Features make sure Explicit column selection is turned off. Hope this does it for you.
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.
In my current Database I have a table whose data is manually entered or comes in an excel sheet every week. Before we had the "manual entry option", the table would be dropped and replaced by the excel version.
Now because there is data that only exists in the original table this can not be done.
I'm trying to find a way to update the original table with changes and additions from the (excel) table while preserving all rows not in the new sheet.
I've been attempting to simply use an insert query and an update query /but/ I can't find a way to detect changes in a record.
Any suggestions? I can provide the current sql if you'd find that helpful.
Based on what I have read so far, I think I can offer some suggestions:
It appears you have control of the MS Access. I would suggest adding a field to your data table called "source". Modify your form in the access database to store something like "m" for manual entry in the source field. When you import the excel, store an "e" for excel in the field.
You would need to do a one time scrub of the data to mark existing records as manual entries or excel entries. There are a couple of ways you can do it through automation/queries that I can explain in detail if you want.
Once past these steps, your excel process is fairly simple. You can delete all records with source = "e" and then do a full excel import. Manual records would remain unchanged.
This concept will allow you to add new sources and codes and allow you to handle each differently if needed. You just need to spend some time cleaning up your old data. I think you will find it worth it in the end.
Good Luck.
I have problems with my records within my database, so I have a template with about 260,000 records and for each record they have 3 identification columns to determine what time period the record is from and location: one for year, one for month, and one for region. Then the information for identifying the specific item is TagName, and Description. The Problem I am having is when someone entered data into this database they entered different description for the same device, I know this because the tag name is the same. Can I write code that will go through the data base find the items with the same tag name and use one of the descriptions to replace the ones that are different to have a more uniform database. Also some devices do not have tag names so we would want to avoid the "" Case.
Also moving forward into the future I have added more columns to the database to allow for more information to be retrieved, is there a way that I can back fill the data to older records once I know that they have the same tag name and Description once the database is cleaned up? Thanks in advance for the information it is much appreciated.
I assume that this will have to be done with VBA of some sort to modify records by looking for the first record with that description and using a variable to assign that description to all the other items with the same tag name? I just am not sure of the correct VBA syntax to go about this. I assume a similar method would be used for the backfilling process?
Your question is rather broad and multifaceted, so I'll answer key parts in steps:
The Problem I am having is when someone entered data into this
database they entered different description for the same device, I
know this because the tag name is the same.
While you could fix up those inconsistencies easily enough with a bit of SQL code, it would be better to avoid those inconsistencies being possible in the first place:
Create a new table, let's call it 'Tags', with TagName and TagDescription fields, and with TagName set as the primary key. Ensure both fields have their Required setting to True and Allow Zero Length to False.
Populate this new table with all possible tags - you can do this with a one-off 'append query' in Access jargon (INSERT INTO statement in SQL).
Delete the tag description column from the main table.
Go into the Relationships view and add a one-to-many relation between the two tables, linking the TagName field in the main table to the TagName field in the Tags table.
As required, create a query that aggregates data from the two tables.
Also some devices do not have tag names so we would want to avoid the
"" Case.
In Access, the concept of an empty string ("") is different from the concept of a true blank or 'null'. As such, it would be a good idea to replace all empty strings (if there are any) with nulls -
UPDATE MyTable SET TagName = Null WHERE TagName = '';
You can then set the TagName field's Allow Zero Length property to False in the table designer.
Also moving forward into the future I have added more columns to the
database to allow for more information to be retrieved
Think less in terms of more columns than more tables.
I assume that this will have to be done with VBA of some sort to modify records
Either VBA, SQL, or the Access query designers (which create SQL code behind the scenes). In terms of being able to crunch through data the quickest, SQL is best, though pure VBA (and in particular, using the DAO object library) can be easier to understand and follow.
I have a spreadsheet that lists customers, their supervisor information, and special feature codes that are listed on their account at the time the report was created.
I need to add a column to this sheet that lists the last active date that these codes were populated on the customer account.
I'm aware of how pull the info when the features were last active. However, I need to base my query based on these specific accounts and codes. What family of SQL Clauses can I use to read these preexisting values and return a corresponding date value?
Your question is a bit ambiguous. How are you populating the spreadsheet? Are you using an ETL application like SSIS or creating an Excel output from a SQL query in your database?
If you are populating an existing Excel spreadsheet, then create in that spreadsheet a new column called "Last Active Date" in preparation for populating it from the source.
If you are pulling the data from a database source, then there may be an associated history or archive table where you can find the pre-existing codes along with their corresponding dates. Here your database administrator and/or developer will be better equiped to assist you in navigating the database architecture. If the codes are no longer available in the source database, then no special SQL CLAUSE will assist. You cannot retrieve that which does not exist.