Reverse Engineer Reports in Access DB

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
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G

Guest

Hello,
First, I am new to Access DB, and I am trying to quickly document all the
Reports in an Access DB, in addition to the tables and fields each of these
reports use.

An additional layer of VB Script is between the reporting layer and the data
layer.

Is there a program or script I can use to document the Reports?
 
Yes / No:
We haven't tried this approach because I don't think the tool will be able
to access the VB layer between the reports to let us know what specific
tables they are using.
 
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by VB Script or VB Layer. The
documenter and document your code.
 
Duane,
This is what we are looking for:
We have a list of Reports and Tables in the Access DB and we need to extract
information that shows for each Report, which Tables and fields its using.

The documentation tool in Access only provides a list of reports, tables and
fields but does not show the relationship across the three.

For example, I am trying to produce documentation that shows for
Report 1 it uses Tables 1...N, with Fields A..Z in each table.

Hope this helps, thanks for your tim.
 
triniprnh said:
The documentation tool in Access only provides
a list of reports, tables and fields but does not
show the relationship across the three.
Click to expand...

I beg to differ. First, when you write "relationship across the three", I
think you are thinking of a format of presentation. "Relationships" in
Access are between Tables, so obviously, that's not what you are talking
about.

A Report obtains its data from the Table or Query specified in its
RecordSource, and the Report's RecordSource is documented in the Report's
Properties by the Documenter.

Controls on the Report obtain their data from the Control Source specified
for that Control -- which may be a Field in the Report's Record Source, or a
calculation specified in the Control Source (which could include a built-in
or user-defined function). The Control's Control Source of the Report's
Controls is documented in the Control's property.

Because a Query can have multiple Tables as data sources, and the Fields in
the Query can be Fields from those tables, or calculated Fields (see above)
which might refer to other Tables in Domain Aggregate functions either
directly or in a user-defined function), you can see that a visual
presentation such as you describe is not easy to define, nor would it be
simple to implement in a general fashion.

If the free documentation aids to which Duane referred at Jeff Conrad's site
does not do what you want and you can't find other free tools that do, you
can visit FMS, Inc.'s http://www.fmsinc.com and take a look to see if Total
Access Analyzer does. TAA is not free, but it creates extensive reports (so
many that you have to choose what you want to see lest you learn "more than
you wanted to know").

I have, in the past, created my own reports and written my own code for
documentation of special items that "did not fit the standard documentation
model" and have some appreciation for the time and effort that went into the
documentation tools, whether included, or freeware, or commercial. If you
need what they offer, even the commercial tools can be a great value,
because they'll have hundreds or thousands of hours of design,
implementation, and debugging invested.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP
 
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