Help need for a quick way to preview .mdb databases

I some times have to scan 20 to 40 databases (on a daily basis) to see
who worked on that particular file and the only way to know is to open
it and check for their initials in the last field of the last record.

The file names are computer generated and no way of changing that so
that it would indicate who created it.

The only way I know of now is to manually open each file and then
check that last record.

I use PowerDesk as my Windows Explorer and it has a file preview but
it just shows the binary bytes of the .mdb file, not very useful.

I have tried MDBMerge, and it quickly merges all of the files and then
I can open 1 extremely large file but this is not really acceptable.

Is there any program or method that will allow me to quickly preview
the contents of the files?

Thanks

jbl

Re: Help need for a quick way to preview .mdb databases

"jbl" wrote in message
news:ra3nn3paoclgsbbnv7a1gho55cprp614oh@4ax.com...
>I some times have to scan 20 to 40 databases (on a daily basis) to see
> who worked on that particular file and the only way to know is to open
> it and check for their initials in the last field of the last record.
>
> The file names are computer generated and no way of changing that so
> that it would indicate who created it.
>
> The only way I know of now is to manually open each file and then
> check that last record.
>
> I use PowerDesk as my Windows Explorer and it has a file preview but
> it just shows the binary bytes of the .mdb file, not very useful.
>
> I have tried MDBMerge, and it quickly merges all of the files and then
> I can open 1 extremely large file but this is not really acceptable.
>
> Is there any program or method that will allow me to quickly preview
> the contents of the files?
>
> Thanks
>
> jbl

Sounds like an odd method of doing business to me but you could always have
your own file with linked tables to the target files. You could perhaps
then use a combination of grouped and union queries to display the last
record in each table. Not something I've tried but might be worth a go.

Keith.
www.keithwilby.com

Re: Help need for a quick way to preview .mdb databases

Keith Wilby wrote:
> "jbl" wrote in message
> news:ra3nn3paoclgsbbnv7a1gho55cprp614oh@4ax.com...
>
>> I some times have to scan 20 to 40 databases (on a daily basis) to see
>> who worked on that particular file and the only way to know is to open
>> it and check for their initials in the last field of the last record.
>>
>> The file names are computer generated and no way of changing that so
>> that it would indicate who created it.
>>
>> The only way I know of now is to manually open each file and then
>> check that last record.
>>
>> I use PowerDesk as my Windows Explorer and it has a file preview but
>> it just shows the binary bytes of the .mdb file, not very useful.
>>
>> I have tried MDBMerge, and it quickly merges all of the files and then
>> I can open 1 extremely large file but this is not really acceptable.
>>
>> Is there any program or method that will allow me to quickly preview
>> the contents of the files?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> jbl
>
>
> Sounds like an odd method of doing business to me but you could always
> have your own file with linked tables to the target files. You could
> perhaps then use a combination of grouped and union queries to display
> the last record in each table. Not something I've tried but might be
> worth a go.
>
> Keith.
> www.keithwilby.com

Expanding on Keith's explanation, you might want to look these commands
up in help. Dir() to find/loop thru the file names. Check out
TransferDatabase to link the table or OpenDatabase, TableDef and the
methods Connect, RefreshLink, and Delete of TableDef. To look at the
last record, look at OpenRecordset and GoToRecord.

Hero
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IV9an1EE9M

Re: Help need for a quick way to preview .mdb databases

On Jan 2, 8:19 am, jbl wrote:
> I some times have to scan 20 to 40 databases (on a daily basis) to see
> who worked on that particular file and the only way to know is to open
> it and check for their initials in the last field of the last record.

> The file names are computer generated and no way of changing that
Uh huh!

> so that it would indicate who created it.

If the initials are entered in the last field of the last record
interactively (by a person) then it should be a simple matter to add a
bit of code to the after_update event procedure of the form control
where that is done, that adds a line to a text file (one for all the
dbs) containing the information you require, eg
DatabaseName, Initials, Date_and_Time.
You could open the text file PDQ and see all the most recent activity
for all the databases.
If the initials are entered by a proecdure it would be a simple matter
to add code to the procedure that did the same thing.

I'm sure you'll be offended when I say that what you describe sounds
like total absurdity, but, mindful that inexperienced people read this
newsgroup, a person has to do what a person has to do.

Re: Help need for a quick way to preview .mdb databases

"lyle" wrote in message
news:2db89eb9-523f-48cb-b917-e0e179e9d496@e6g2000prf.googleg roups.com...
>
> I'm sure you'll be offended when I say that what you describe sounds
> like total absurdity, but, mindful that inexperienced people read this
> newsgroup, a person has to do what a person has to do.

My friend has been asking me about Office automation so that he can get
varying data files imported into Excel and then into an AS 400 system.
Apparently he is sent a PDF file by one party because then there is "no
dispute" about what data is being exchanged. Then he has to type that data
in by hand into the AS 400 thingy (whatever that is).

Re: Help need for a quick way to preview .mdb databases

On Jan 2, 6:44 pm, "Deano" wrote:
> "lyle" wrote in message
>
> news:2db89eb9-523f-48cb-b917-e0e179e9d496@e6g2000prf.googleg roups.com...
>
>
>
> > I'm sure you'll be offended when I say that what you describe sounds
> > like total absurdity, but, mindful that inexperienced people read this
> > newsgroup, a person has to do what a person has to do.
>
> My friend has been asking me about Office automation so that he can get
> varying data files imported into Excel and then into an AS 400 system.
> Apparently he is sent a PDF file by one party because then there is "no
> dispute" about what data is being exchanged. Then he has to type that data
> in by hand into the AS 400 thingy (whatever that is).

I expect your friend could download an ADOBE SDK from the ADOBE site
which would provide him/her with the insight/technology required to
import data from a PDF file. That sounds like too much work to me, and
far too challenging for a non-programmer (which it seems your friend
may be).

Could the "one party" be persuaded to send two files, the PDF file as
a record, and its source file from which your friend could do the
import?

Re: Help need for a quick way to preview .mdb databases

"Deano" wrote in message
news:5u2lufF1ff76uU1@mid.individual.net...
>
> "lyle" wrote in message
> news:2db89eb9-523f-48cb-b917-e0e179e9d496@e6g2000prf.googleg roups.com...
>>
>> I'm sure you'll be offended when I say that what you describe sounds
>> like total absurdity, but, mindful that inexperienced people read this
>> newsgroup, a person has to do what a person has to do.
>
> My friend has been asking me about Office automation so that he can get
> varying data files imported into Excel and then into an AS 400 system.
> Apparently he is sent a PDF file by one party because then there is "no
> dispute" about what data is being exchanged. Then he has to type that
> data
> in by hand into the AS 400 thingy (whatever that is).

Is the one party paying your friend, or the company your friend works for,
or are they "begging the file" from the one party as a "freebie"? If they
are paying the one party for the information, or if they are doing this as a
favor to the one party then they should be able to specify the format... at
least to specify something more usable than a PDF file.

Having to re-enter all the information from a printed/displayed copy just
guarantees that erroneous data is going to get into the database, even if
the PDF does "prove" the proper data was exchanged in human-readable form.

I've mellowed somewhat with age, but I still don't suffer such fools gladly.

I think there are some PDF-to-otherfileformat software packages, perhaps
freeware (if I were looking for these, I'd start at
http://www.sourceforge.net), but it may be that the PDF is formatted as a
report, and would still require some manual processing. I am sure there are
also software packages that allow editing the PDF even if you aren't the
originator; I wonder what the "PDF is proof" data provider would think if
they got one of these, made some changes, sent it back and asked, "Are you
sure this data is correct?"

In any case, there's no support in Access for importing from a PDF. There
may be, as Lyle said, a Software Development Kit available from Adobe, but
there may also be a cost attached, and there will certainly be a cost to
program it.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

Re: Help need for a quick way to preview .mdb databases

"Larry Linson" wrote in message
news:qaZej.4583$Ko6.4515@trndny02...
>
> "Deano" wrote in message
> news:5u2lufF1ff76uU1@mid.individual.net...
> >
> > "lyle" wrote in message
> > news:2db89eb9-523f-48cb-b917-e0e179e9d496@e6g2000prf.googleg roups.com...
> >>
> >> I'm sure you'll be offended when I say that what you describe sounds
> >> like total absurdity, but, mindful that inexperienced people read this
> >> newsgroup, a person has to do what a person has to do.
> >
> > My friend has been asking me about Office automation so that he can get
> > varying data files imported into Excel and then into an AS 400 system.
> > Apparently he is sent a PDF file by one party because then there is "no
> > dispute" about what data is being exchanged. Then he has to type that
> > data
> > in by hand into the AS 400 thingy (whatever that is).
>
> Is the one party paying your friend, or the company your friend works for,
> or are they "begging the file" from the one party as a "freebie"? If they
> are paying the one party for the information, or if they are doing this as
a
> favor to the one party then they should be able to specify the format...
at
> least to specify something more usable than a PDF file.
>
> Having to re-enter all the information from a printed/displayed copy just
> guarantees that erroneous data is going to get into the database, even if
> the PDF does "prove" the proper data was exchanged in human-readable form.
>
> I've mellowed somewhat with age, but I still don't suffer such fools
gladly.
>
> I think there are some PDF-to-otherfileformat software packages, perhaps
> freeware (if I were looking for these, I'd start at
> http://www.sourceforge.net), but it may be that the PDF is formatted as a
> report, and would still require some manual processing. I am sure there
are
> also software packages that allow editing the PDF even if you aren't the
> originator; I wonder what the "PDF is proof" data provider would think if
> they got one of these, made some changes, sent it back and asked, "Are you
> sure this data is correct?"
>
> In any case, there's no support in Access for importing from a PDF. There
> may be, as Lyle said, a Software Development Kit available from Adobe, but
> there may also be a cost attached, and there will certainly be a cost to
> program it.

It's less of a technical exercise and more about managing relationships. He
collects royalties and the other parties are distributors with whom he has
contracts. He *could* crack the whip and tell them to stop f**king around,
he's even toyed with the idea of putting out an Excel form to collate the
data - an idea which seems designed to annoy them I noted. I did suggest if
he gets the fields from them in an agreed format it shouldn't be to
difficult to import it into his system.

Thanks for the PDF tips, I will certainly let him know about that but I
think he should be rejecting that format in the first place.

It's a laughable situation and I feel sorry for him, he's extremely
professional but always gets these jobs working with cowboys.

Re: Help need for a quick way to preview .mdb databases

"Deano" wrote:

>Apparently he is sent a PDF file by one party because then there is "no
>dispute" about what data is being exchanged.

Tell the idiot other party to send him both a PDF and an Excel spreadsheet.
Re-entering data this day and age is exceedingly stupid and error prone.

>Then he has to type that data
>in by hand into the AS 400 thingy (whatever that is).

AS/400 is an IBM mini-computer.

Tony

--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
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