General Compact/Repair Question

[Guest]

We all know that Access mdb apps bloat with use and must be compacted
periodically. I think I read somewhere why this happens but I can't recall.
On an app I am working on, I noticed I was up around 50MB and compacted
before I had to send to another developer by email. Compacting reduced it to
about 10MB(zips to about 3MB). For some reason, I decided to create a new
database and import all the objects from the app. The size of the resulting
database is only about 5MB, which after zipping to about 1MB (which made the
other developer happy, as he only has dial-up connection, and smaller emails
are better).

I was curious if anyone knows why compact method doesn't reduce the size to
something similar to that when all the objects are just imported into a new
database?

 

[Roger Carlson]

The code behind all Access Objects (forms, reports, code, etc.) are stored
in two ways: text and compiled. Before Access can use any of these objects,
they have to be compiled. (Access does this automatically when you first
run the app.) This compiled code takes up space in the database. When you
create a new database and copy all the objects, you only copy the text
version, not the compiled version. Therefore it is smaller. My guess is
that the first time the developer opens and uses the database, it will grow
to 10MB (or there abouts). This working space is not considered "bloat".

--
--Roger Carlson
MS Access MVP
Access Database Samples: www.rogersaccesslibrary.com
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Free subscription:
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[Guest]

thanks, that makes sense.
--
dchman

The code behind all Access Objects (forms, reports, code, etc.) are stored
in two ways: text and compiled. Before Access can use any of these objects,
they have to be compiled. (Access does this automatically when you first
run the app.) This compiled code takes up space in the database. When you
create a new database and copy all the objects, you only copy the text
version, not the compiled version. Therefore it is smaller. My guess is
that the first time the developer opens and uses the database, it will grow
to 10MB (or there abouts). This working space is not considered "bloat".

--
--Roger Carlson
MS Access MVP
Access Database Samples: www.rogersaccesslibrary.com
Want answers to your Access questions in your Email?
Free subscription:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=ACCESS-L