Acc2003 SP3 Deleting Label from new control causes Access to Crash -Any fixes?

[techrat]

I have found that others have had this issue but was unable to locate
a definitive fix.

The reproducible scenario is to add a new control to a form and then
delete the controls label prior to saving the form. Once the label has
been deleted, if I try to see the form in form view access crashes.

Additional detail 1: If I save after adding the control, close the
form, then open the form, then delete the label: No Problem.

Additional detail 2: This occurs across several mdb's and several
access installs (All installs from the same source and at the same SP
level)

Additional detail 3: Uninstalling Access and reinstalling without
service packs has no effect on the symptoms.

Additional detail 4: Decompile has no effect on the symptoms

Additional detail 5: Decompile + Importing all objects (or even one
form) into a new mdb has no effect on the symptoms.

Any definitive fixes for this problem will be appreciated! I hope to
migrate to Acc2007 within the next few months so this may go away for
me in exchange for different bugs to figure out. For the time being I
would prefer to not have to save each time I want to delete a label.

Thanks,

 

[Allen Browne]

It will be interesting to see if anyone has a fix for this.

AFAIK, the most practical alternative to avoiding A2003 SP3 is to ensure you
do something else after removing the label before you save the form.

 

[Allen Browne]

BTW, you are aware of these hotfixes for some other issues:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/945674
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/970623

 

[techrat]

Some additional details on the problem that I am having that may shed
some light on the overall problem:

1.) The issue does not exist in every single form; In some forms, I
can add a control, delete the label and open in form view imediately
with no error.
2.) The Forms that do exhibit the undesired behavior, I suspect, may
have been edited by Acc2007 at some point.
3.) In at least 1 case, attempting to import all of the objects into a
new database resulted in all of the forms having all code stripped in
the new database after import.

I am still investigating various scenarios related to this issue that
I can repeat. I will report back my findings and hope that some of
these symptoms will spark some further thoughts with some of you on
how to resolve.

Thanks!

 

[techrat]

A little more on duplicating the problem:

I have now confirmed that I can duplicate this problem on a form that
previously did not exhibit this behavior.

As I suspected, it appears to be related to editing the form in 2007
then returning to 2003 and attempting to edit.

To make a previously working form exhibit this behavior (Crash after
adding a control>Deleting Label>Goto Form View) I do the following:

Open DB in 2007

Edit the form (as minimally as adding a comment in the module window)

Compile form

Exit 2007

Open in 2003

Go to design view

Add control

Remove label

Attempt to view in form view

Access Hangs or crashes

If I attempt to go back to 2007 after the above crash, I am unable to
open the form with various errors. It seems that there are some issues
with editing in 2007 and returning to edit in 2003.

Any additional thoughts on this?

 

[Lou-Jean]

Allen, do you know of any hotfixes for Access 2002? My issue of shut down
sounds very similar to this, pertaining to one specific form I'm trying to
revise. It just shuts down completely with no warning. It only started
happening within the last month.

Since then, I've even gone to old backups of the database (2008) that have
not been touched in quite awhile and the same thing happens. And it's not
specific to my machine.

 

[techrat]

Update and input for Lou-Jean:

As a point of reference, all service packs & hot fixes are applied
with no effect on the symptoms or the ability to recreate.

I have however found a fairly painless solution as follows:

Create New Form
Copy all objects-Not Code from effected form into new form
Save New Form with a different name than the effected form.
Copy code from effected form into text file
Delete effected form
Compact & Repair
Copy code from text file into code window of new form.
Update recordsource if applicable
Compile
Save
Compact & Repair

After all of these steps, I can add a new control, delete the label
and switch to form view with no issues. I suspect that some of the
steps could be eliminated however I am not about to try every
combination of steps.

Note: Importing all objects to a new database did not work to solve
the problem nor did export form to text>Import from text.

In any case, the solution above seems to correct the issues that I
have been experiencing. I would not have given this issue so much
attention if I did not suspect that this form corruption has farther
reaching implications than just the Label Deletion issue. If anyone
has further information, suggestions or feedback on this issue, I will
be interested in hearing from you.

Thanks,

 

[Allen Browne]

If it is the result of modifying the form in another version, you could try
this recovery sequence:
http://allenbrowne.com/recover.html

If nothing else does it, the final step (SaveAsText) may do so.

 

[Allen Browne]

Try this recovery sequence:
http://allenbrowne.com/recover.html

Let us know how you go

 

[techrat]

Allen,

Thanks for the info! I did go through the process outlined at:
http://allenbrowne.com/recover.html and it does not appear to have
corrected the problems. Additionally the save as text does not seem to
work either. I have found however that the process I mentioned in the
previous post (See Below) seems to work consistently whenever I
encounter this problem.

Create New Form
Copy all objects-Not Code from effected form into new form
Save New Form with a different name than the effected form.
Copy code from effected form into text file
Delete effected form
Compact & Repair
Copy code from text file into code window of new form.
Update recordsource if applicable
Compile
Save
Compact & Repair

It seems as though the Save as Text / Import from text process would
have a similar result however it does not provide good results.

For now I am not too put off by my repair process however as with any
corruption issues, I am concerned about what else may lurk around the
corner.

Thank you all for your input and help!

 

[Allen Browne]

Thanks for posting your solution.

Hopefully that will help others along the journey as well.