How is there an "error" with "no message"

I have a form with many fields, each of which has their separate record
sources in a split db. Today, several users throughout the afternoon
encountered the following message when accessing various dropdowns on the
form: "Error (-1517). There is no message for this error." Three
questions:
1. Has anyone encountered this error before?
2. If so, how was it overcome?
3. How can MS produce an error message that states : "There is no message
for this error"?

It would seem to me that if MS has assigned a number to an error, they must
know that it can happen. If they know it can happen, then they must know
under what circumstances it happens. If they know this, then there is at
least some "message" for this error.

Puzzled...
Earl Anderson

Re: How is there an "error" with "no message"

On Apr 15, 8:44=A0pm, "Earl Anderson" wrote:
> I have a form with many fields, each of which has their separate record
> sources in a split db. =A0Today, several users throughout the afternoon
> encountered the following message when accessing various dropdowns on the
> form: =A0"Error (-1517). =A0There is no message for this error." Three
> questions:
> 1. =A0Has anyone encountered this error before?
> 2. If so, how was it overcome?
> 3. How can MS produce an error message that states : "There is no message
> for this error"?
>
> It would seem to me that if MS has assigned a number to an error, they mus=
t
> know that it can happen. =A0If they know it can happen, then they must kno=
w
> under what circumstances it happens. =A0If they know this, then =A0there i=
s at
> least some "message" for this error.
>
> Puzzled...
> Earl Anderson

It may mean that the front-end thinks there is something in the back-
end which is no longer there, like a field or foreign key. You may be
able to correct the error by deleting and resetting your front-end
links, maybe with a closing and reopening of the front end in between,
maybe a decompile and a compact.
Why is there no message? Who knows? Access's entire help,
documentation and error systems are really a large pile of band-aids;
the only trustable thing is the object browser. My GUESS is that the
error has no message because it's an error relating to something
missing, and Access isn't sure what's missing, so it keep its lips
closed. I'm sure that has a least a 0.0000001 chance of being correct.