Access db needs to be saved in Design mode on new machine

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I develop Access apps for charitable and non-profit organizations and I've
encountered a problem where the newly installed mdb will open to its startup
menu but then not respond to any command buttons, combo boxes become inert
etc. Also its apparent that VBA code at the startup form's OnOpen event
isn't running. The "cure" is simply to open the form in design mode and save
it. Thereafter all forms etc function normally.

This has occured with users on Windows Me, Windows 2000 and Windows XP
platforms (I author on a Windows Me machine) and with several totally
different applications. The apps have been developed in Access 2002 (SP3)
usually saved in 2000 format.

It seems that on the affected computers the application is cut off from some
reference libraries until such time as the Save in Design mode is done.

Any thoughts on what's happening here and any ideas to fix it. TIA
 
You don't say whether or not this happens every time or only the first time
it is opened on the machine. In either case you can kluge a work-around if
you can get an autoexec macro to work, simply open the startup in design
view, save it, then close it and reopen it. You should barely notice the
quick flash when the form opens and closes the first time. If it's a
one-time problem, write code to check for the existance of the autoexec
macro and delete it, if it's there.
--
Arvin Meyer, MCP, MVP
Microsoft Access
Free Access downloads:
http://www.datastrat.com
http://www.mvps.org/access
 
The Design/Save operation cures the problem for that user forever, until such
time as the next release of the system gets installed. And it's always the
same users affected, around 3 out of 25 or so.

Since I knew the OnOpen VBA code wasn't running I didn't think there was a
programming solution, but autoexec seems like a good possibility. Thanks
 
Frank77 said:
I develop Access apps for charitable and non-profit organizations and I've
encountered a problem where the newly installed mdb will open to its startup
menu but then not respond to any command buttons, combo boxes become inert
etc. Also its apparent that VBA code at the startup form's OnOpen event
isn't running. The "cure" is simply to open the form in design mode and save
it. Thereafter all forms etc function normally.

This has occured with users on Windows Me, Windows 2000 and Windows XP
platforms (I author on a Windows Me machine) and with several totally
different applications. The apps have been developed in Access 2002 (SP3)
usually saved in 2000 format.

It seems that on the affected computers the application is cut off from some
reference libraries until such time as the Save in Design mode is done.

Any thoughts on what's happening here and any ideas to fix it. TIA
Click to expand...


I wonder if there's a slightly different version of some
library. Try checking the version number of each library on
your machine and the problem machines.

The reasons I think this might at least contribute to the
problem is that saving the form's design is probably forcing
at least a partial compile. I have seen some similar
strangeness happen and now I always deliver a decompiled
copy of an app and do a full compile on the target machines.
It would be nice if we could force the users to always run
the same version of everthing, but that's near impossible to
enforce.
 
Yes, I'll be able to check the lib references easily for a couple of the
users since I install on their prem, but other users download the zipped mdbs
from my web site. I'm concerned that when users hit these or other simple
problems they just give up (reverting to the manual systems these apps are
designed to replace) so if this glitch turns out to be avoidable with the
autoexec Open Save Close appoach that will be a bonus.

One of the challenges I'm finding in the non-profit sphere is great
variability in PC currency and user knowledge level compared to the corporate
world.

Thanks
 
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