Mult-user database won't allow more than one person at a time

[Guest]

I have a mult-user database that won't allow more than one person to open the
database at once. Under Options -- Advanced, it says that it is a shared
database with no record-locking, but when more than one person tries to open
it, there is an error message saying that the second person trying to open it
does not have exclusive use. No design changes are being made, they are only
entering data into forms.

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

Sometimes forms attempt to make changes to properties (record source,
display properties, etc.) that are treated as design changes

 

[Guest]

The users are simply trying to open up the database to enter records. They
don't even know how to do any property changes. One of them has a form open
and is entering data, and when another one opens it, an error message comes
on saying that the database cannot open. I am wondering if it is how the
computers are set up. They have roughly 15 people using 3 computers (it is a
park ranger office), so no one computer is used exclusively by one person.
Any help?

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

How sophisticated was whoever built the application? They may be doing
things in code that change properties.

I'm assuming that the application has been split into a front-end database
(containing the queries, forms, reports, macros and modules), linked to a
back-end database (containing the tables). That's the recommended
configuration for multiuser applications, with each user having a copy of
the front-end on his/her hard drive, and only the back-end on the network.

See what Tony Toews has at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/splitapp/index.htm for more details.

 

[Guest]

Because they are entering sensitive information, the tables, along with the
forms, queries, and reports have been set up on the network where only the
users have access. The tables can't really be put anywhere else because of
the sensitive information they contain. If it hasn't been split into a front
and back-end database, does it follow that these problems are occuring? The
users of this database also need access to the tables in the database because
they are the ones that are actually running it. There really isn't an
administrator or database person in the park due to lack of funding. The
supervisors of the rangers have mainly been going in and doing quality
control checks because there are sometimes mistakes made in data entry.

I also don't think that there has been code written that changes properties.
The only code that has been written, I believe, is where you can choose an
option from a scrolldown box, and data immediately pops up in other fields.
It's a fairly simple database.
Thank you for all your help!

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

Splitting into a front-end and back-end will likely help.