Front End Show data not in the back end?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Al
  • Start date Start date
A

Al

I have a database with (fe/be). Since I converted the
database to Access 2002 in the past year the users noticed
that when they pulled a record for a customer they see
that the fields of the record that they pulled for that
customer are shifted and mixed up on the form, Ex:

The following is the right data,

Customer A
LastName: Smith
FirstName: John
DOB: 12-25-1990

When this problem happens the users see the following:

Customer A
LastName: John
FistName: 12-25-1990
DOB: Smith

This is of course just an example to illustrate.
The facts are:

1) They see this only on the "fe".

2) When I check the "be" to see if the fields are really
jumbled up, I see that the "be" is OK, no mix up problems.
It is just the "fe" showing the data shifted.

3) This can happened whether one or all users are on.

4) It can happen on one computer or multiple regardless to
what their OS are.

5) The fe can show data that does not exist all together
in the be ex:

DOB: 8-13-1899

If I go to the be, this date does not show up.

6) we have noticed that this problem occurred when the
Network was slow.

The big problem is that when the user sees this data they
realize that this is a wrong data and need to be corrected
then they of course change the data. This can cause a big
problem with the data integrity.

This problem happened 3 times now in the past year. We
switched to access 2002 for a year now and this started to
happen. The problem goes away by compacting the front end,
not necessarily the back end. I do compact the back end,
any way, just in case. Does anyone know if there is a bug
in access 2002 or any reason for this?
Thanks
Al
 
Does anyone know if there is a bug
in access 2002 or any reason for this?
Click to expand...

It's been an *occasional* problem for several versions - I have heard
of it happening as far back as 2.0.

In my experience it happens when the links to the backend tables get
"stale". Using the Linked Table Manager or VBA code to relink the
backend tables cures the problem immediately. It may be worthwhile (in
your environment, with apparent network problems) to periodically
either refresh the links from fe to be, or simply junk the backend
daily and replace it with a fresh copy downloaded from the server.
 
"it happens when the links to the backend tables get
"stale""

What makes the link to the be "stale"?

"It may be worthwhile (in your environment, with apparent
network problems) to periodically either refresh the
links from fe to be"

can I do this without stopping the users, i.e. can I do
it whil the users are working?

"or simply junk the backend daily and replace it with a
fresh copy downloaded from the server."

I do not understand? the be is on the server and all the
work stations are linked to it?

do you recommend a routine written somewhere that can
refreshes the linkes. I do not like to use the link
manager it is too slow and I have never been able to use
it to make a globle relinking. I have over 150 tables in
the db including lookup tables of course.
thank you John, I love your book.
Al
 
"or simply junk the backend daily and replace it with a
fresh copy downloaded from the server."

I do not understand? the be is on the server and all the
work stations are linked to it?
Click to expand...

Take a look at Tony Toews' Auto FE Updater at

http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/autofe.htm

This makes it very painless to give a user a fresh copy of a frontend,
already linked to the backend, at the drop of a hat.
do you recommend a routine written somewhere that can
refreshes the linkes. I do not like to use the link
manager it is too slow and I have never been able to use
it to make a globle relinking. I have over 150 tables in
the db including lookup tables of course.
Click to expand...

There's some good code at

http://www.mvps.org/access/tables/tbl0009.htm
thank you John, I love your book.
Click to expand...

Well... I haven't written any books. I think you must be thinking of
my esteemed friend John Viescas; I love his books too, and a lot of
what I post here has been learned from them!
 
Thank you John.You are right about the book. sorrey for
the mix up:)

I was wondering if you know the answer to the following,
even though that I will go to where you pointed me, but
just for my curiosity:

"it happens when the links to the backend tables get
"stale""

What makes the link to the be "stale"?

"It may be worthwhile (in your environment, with apparent
network problems) to periodically either refresh the
links from fe to be"

can I do this without stopping the users, i.e. can I do
it whil the users are working?
thanks
Al
 
Thank you John.You are right about the book. sorrey for
the mix up:)

I was wondering if you know the answer to the following,
even though that I will go to where you pointed me, but
just for my curiosity:

"it happens when the links to the backend tables get
"stale""

What makes the link to the be "stale"?
Click to expand...

It's some sort of corruption of the system tables on the frontend,
causing them to have pointers to the wrong fields. I don't know what
causes corruption in general, but certainly an unstable or overloaded
network would be a prime suspect.
"It may be worthwhile (in your environment, with apparent
network problems) to periodically either refresh the
links from fe to be"

can I do this without stopping the users, i.e. can I do
it whil the users are working?
Click to expand...

No. I'd either run relinking software (from the link I posted or
elsewhere - I use the code from Getz et al.'s _Access 2000 Developers
Handbook_), or use Tony's Auto FE Updater to simply replace the user's
frontend with a brand new (and hence hopefully uncorrupted) copy
whenever they log on.
 
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