Is it possible to link one MDB to another in a standalone manner?
Ie. If I have the accounts table in db1.mdb and the products table in db2.mdb, can both these MDBs be coded so that they can link to each of the tables in a seamless manner?
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49answers:
1
A:
Yes, just do it. You can create linked tables in MS Access, and the Jet engine does not care anymore in which MDB file the data resides.
In fact it is good practice to separate the data db from the code db, because you can send updated code dbs without the need to update the data db to your customers.
Btw. we stopped storing data in MDBs altogether, because they tend to break regulary. Better start using the Microsoft Desktop Database Engine immediatly, and just place the code in thr MDB.
Daniel
2010-05-08 09:45:57
I have been working with mdbs for a number of years and they do not "break regularly" unless they are very badly set-up.
Remou
2010-05-08 12:46:28
I have worked with MDBs for about 6 years now, and they broke regulary. I have to admit, that the 20 users using the one backend concurrently on a remote windows host might have been too much. We switched to a real server based database now.
Daniel
2010-05-08 18:28:24
Access databases are prone to breakage when used across an unreliable network. In 5 years experience I encountered one which broke (corrupted) on two occasions. That one was a database opened directly from a network share by more than one user at a time. It never broke again after we split it and gave each user their own local copy of the front-end with links to the data in the networked back-end database.
HansUp
2010-05-08 21:11:49
@Daniel: the key part of your statement is "on a remote windows host." You can't use Jet/ACE except on a wired LAN with reasonable bandwidth. This is to be expected of a file-based database engine.
David-W-Fenton
2010-05-09 02:27:41
To second @Remou and @HansUp, I don't see "breakage" of MDBs/ACCDBs, and I've been at this since 1996. Sure, the occasional hiccup occurs, but only very, very seldom. Regular maintenance and proper backups insure no loss of data or any downtime for users.
David-W-Fenton
2010-05-09 02:28:49
What is "Microsoft Desktop Database Engine"? I've never heard of the term. Do you mean SQL Server Express?
David-W-Fenton
2010-05-09 02:29:10
@David: what do you mean by 'regular maintenance'? Do you mean compacting? If so, how often should it be done?
Craig Johnston
2010-05-09 05:30:54
@David-W-Fenton: Access has shooten me in the foot more than one time. Maybe I use it in the wrong way, but I am glad to have switched to Java, where I can debug everything down to the lowest level because I have the source of everything.
Daniel
2010-05-09 07:11:11
@Craig Johnston: if you were running a SQL Server you'd have regular maintenance routines scheduled, and a Jet/ACE database should be no different. How often to compact depends on the amount of updating/adding that is being done to your database. Once a month or once a week will suffice for some database, while once a day is better for others. Never do a compact without a backup, but your database should be backed up daily, not just when you compact it.
David-W-Fenton
2010-05-09 18:48:59
@Daniel: I can't see how Java is a replacement for Access, so don't know why if what you want to do can be done in Jave you'd have ever been attempting to use Access. The discussion here is not even regarding Access as development platform, but Jet/ACE (Access's default db engine), so your comments seem completely off the wall to me.
David-W-Fenton
2010-05-09 18:52:30
@David-W-Fenton: Yes, that comment really is of the wall. I just felt the urge to say that MS Access is definitely so broken for what I tried to to with it, and I really can say for me that I have done a ton of development with it, that I now feel better not having to do it more, that for maintenaining what we have.
Daniel
2010-05-09 19:16:29
@David-W-Fenton: Hell, I even wrote a Subversion plugin for Access, to be able to have a chance of a definite state in which I work on, with four other programmers working on that beast also.
Daniel
2010-05-09 19:17:29
@Daniel: why you need to badmouth Access as development tool is beyond me. You seem to have irrational emotional problems in regard to Access. I don't think those are Access's fault.
David-W-Fenton
2010-05-10 21:28:22
@David-W-Fenton: I cannot completely disagree. Sorry for continuing this useless discussion. Althought it is IMHO at least partly Access's fault ...
Daniel
2010-05-11 05:10:15