Form Display

  • Thread starter Thread starter Josh
  • Start date Start date
J

Josh

I have a form that is used on about 6 different
computers. The form is installed locally on each
computer, and they each write to a table that is stored on
the network so that they can all update the same file. It
has worked fine on all computers but 1 so far. This one
computer will only display the background of the form and
nothing else. I've triple checked and this form has
identical settings to the forms on the other computers.
They are all running Access 97, however, the trouble
making computer originally was running Access 2003, but we
changed it to 97 so that all of our systems were running
identical versions. Could switching from 2003 to 97 be
part of the problem? Thanks
 
Josh,

Just guessing here, but this is one possible cause of your problem. I
suppose "the form is installed locally on each computer, and they each write
to a table that is stored on the network" means your database is split to a
front end (a local copy on each PC) and a back end on the network? It may
well be that the path to the linked table in your front end uses a drive
mapping that does not exist on the PC having the problem.
To check, open the front end and go Tools > Database Utilities > Linked
Table Manager (not sure if the menu path is exactly the same in A97, but
there does exit a Linked Table Manager menu item somewhere) and note the
table's link path. Then open My Computer or Windows Explorer on the
problematic PC, and check if there is a network folder mapped to the
specific drive letter in the link, and if so if it is the one you expected;
my guess is the mapping either does not exist at all, or is pointing to a
different network folder.
If this is indeed the case, the obvious solution is to fix the mapping on
the PC. This is a half measure, though, as it will always be vulnerable to
users changing their mappings. The bulletproof solution is to change the
link in the front end from a mapped drive to a UNC address, i.e. one that
goes like:
\\ServerName\FolderName\....\BackEndName.mdb
To do this, open your development copy of the FE, invoke the Linked Table
Manager again, and change the link, going from My Network Places to the
Server and then down to the target folder and file, instead of using a
mapped drive. Then redistribute the front end. This approach makes the link
independent of network drive mappings on different PC's.

HTH,
Nikos
 
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