How do I turn off the automated hexadecimaling in Access?

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I imported a database from Microsoft Compatibility Analyzer into Access.
When I open one of the tables, instead of getting useful numbers regarding
hard drive information, I get hexadecimals. I have tried changing datatype
information but when I do, it deletes columns of information (with no
apparent logic that I can see). I have also looked under every possible
option/tool/view folder in Access. I have searched the internet for answers
to no avail. I need to be able to view these numbers normally without
retyping in every single one. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hi SarahJane,

I've never touched the Application Compatibility Toolkit, but get the
impression that it's intended only for use by enterprise IT departments
and software publishers - in other words by people who (unlike me)
already understand it<g>. Certainly there seems to be remarkably little
about it on the web or Usenet.

So I'm guessing, but it seems possible that the values in the fields
that are perplexing you are structs (custom types) that the
Compatibility Analyzer is collecting from whatever it analyses. If so,
it's a matter of parsing the values yourself. The simplest way is likely
to be something like this:

1) Work out the structure of the struct and declare a matching VBA Type.
2) Declare a second Type with one member, an array of Byte with the same
number of bytes as there are in the struct.
3) Get the contents of a field into a variable of the second Type, and
use the old LSet statement to copy them into a variable of the first
Type ... and hey presto!

If you're using this to collect information on your hardware, consider
using WMI instead. If you're auditing software, conceivably a
third-party tool would be easier.

Good luck!
 
I don't want to be simplistic or declare any level of ignorance on my behalf
but I am not a computer programmer in the slightest. One of the reasons we
are using the Compatibility Analyzer to collect this information is that it
is very non-invasive as far as how it affects our users. We want to view
software and hardware information in a usable format. The more I investigate
the issue, the more it looks like I will need to become a programmer in order
to solve an array of problems I have thus far encountered. Does Access cater
at all to gathering information automatically from computers on a network?
Or is my only option to learn programming?
 
As I said, I've never used and scarcely heard of the Application
Compatibility Toolkit. The relevant newsgroup appears to be
microsoft.public.windows.app_compatibility; if you ask there someone may
be able to point you to documentation. If you can't get to the group via
the Microsoft interface you're using, you can do so via
http://groups.google.com.

Access itself has no built-in facilities for polling and/or auditing
computers on a network. WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) is the
part of Windows that provides for that sort of thing. But it means
learning programming.

But if you want to keep track of your computers and what's on them, the
simplest approach may be to buy a ready-made package.
 
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