convert database access 97 to access 2003

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

When converting an Access 97 Database to Access 2003 I receive the following
message. " You can not convert or enable an MDE file". Does anyone have any
information on this message. Thanks Kelly
 
It means what is says. You cannot convert an MDE file. Hopefully, you have
the MDB file that created the MDE. That is what you should use.
 
The MDB file that created the MDE is not available. Is there a way to convert
without the original MDB?
 
Not that I know of. I seem to remember a post in the past that had some way
of getting everything out of an mde, but I don't remember it. The problem is
that an mde is stripped of all it's source code and contains only compiled
code.

You might want to repost your question with a different subject header such
as:
How to Decompile an MDE file
 
"KBox" wrote
The MDB file that created the MDE
is not available. Is there a way to convert
without the original MDB?
Click to expand...

Assuming you have appropriate permissions, you can copy tables, queries, and
macros directly from an MDE. However, you are locked out of design view for
modules, and for forms and reports, which have modules.

Much information that would be of interest simply no longer exists in the
"compiled" modules of an MDE... comments and meaningful data names. The
statements themselves have been replaced by "tokens" (codes recognizable to
Access, but not documented for use by The Great Access Unwashed).

Still, with VBA code from another database (again, provided you have
permissions), you can extract all the properties of the Forms and Reports
and use those to regenerate a "codeless" version. You can also, in those
properties, view the Event properties to see which invokes code. I don't
recall that anyone has posted the necessary code, but you might Google this
newsgroup and others including comp.databases.ms-access to see if you can
find a reference.

However, you have to regenerate code from scratch, but observing the MDE
running will give an experienced Access developer a good idea of what is
needed. If you are not an experienced Access developer, this might be the
project for which you would want to hire one.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP
 
Back
Top