File Locks on Access Files

[SimonH]

Hi all,

We have a recurring problem with a couple of access databases we have made.

The interface to the databases are through web interfaces and one of them
also has an access forms interface as well as a web ui.

Sometimes, seemingly at random, we get an error saying that the database
file is locked and that we cant get data out of it. Apparently restarting
the server fixes the problem, but its happening quite a lot so I need to
find a way to stop the problem happening at all.

I'm hoping someone could explain under what circumstances an access file
is locked and what we can do to avoid the problem.

It doesnt seem to occur on other files that have a web-only interface very
often.

I always thought that multiple people could access the same access file at
the same time. I'm sure I've seen users sharing a central db via a Access
forms ui that each of the users have on their local machine.

Any help would be very much received.

Thank

 

[Joseph Meehan]

Hi all,

We have a recurring problem with a couple of access databases we have
made.
The interface to the databases are through web interfaces and one of
them also has an access forms interface as well as a web ui.

Sometimes, seemingly at random, we get an error saying that the
database file is locked and that we cant get data out of it.
Apparently restarting the server fixes the problem, but its happening
quite a lot so I need to find a way to stop the problem happening at
all.
I'm hoping someone could explain under what circumstances an access
file is locked and what we can do to avoid the problem.

It doesnt seem to occur on other files that have a web-only interface
very often.

I always thought that multiple people could access the same access
file at the same time. I'm sure I've seen users sharing a central db
via a Access forms ui that each of the users have on their local
machine.
Any help would be very much received.

Thanks

Access locks "pages" of the file when a user is accessing that data.
You need locks to prevent one user from changing something while the second
user is changing the same record. The second user not knowing what the
first one did will not know what it is really changing.

In short the hard part to understand is the idea of a page. A page may
have a group of records so even if the two users are working on different
records, they may be working on the same page.

I know of no way of determining what is a page.

If you are having a lot of this kind of problem and have lots of records
and a situation that the overwriting of another's edit would not be harmful,
then I suggest using a batch type update so it will be less likely the users
will step on each other's toes.

Good Luck