referential integrity selected but cascade delete is greyed out

[djlyonlee]

I've inherited an Access application. The delete process used to work.
Access 2007 was installed last month and now the deletion does not work. The
application is still running as an mdb. The relationships are a many to one.
The delete is attemped on the many sided table. There are two one sided
tables. The resulting error message is "The record cannot be deleted or
changed because table 'Master Address ContactMethods' includes related
records."

When I checked, referential integrity was selected and the cascade options
were greyed out. I cannot make any changes.

How can I fix this so the ContactMethods records can be deleted by the users?
Thanks for your input.
djlyonlee

 

[John W. Vinson]

I've inherited an Access application. The delete process used to work.
Access 2007 was installed last month and now the deletion does not work. The
application is still running as an mdb. The relationships are a many to one.
The delete is attemped on the many sided table. There are two one sided
tables. The resulting error message is "The record cannot be deleted or
changed because table 'Master Address ContactMethods' includes related
records."

When I checked, referential integrity was selected and the cascade options
were greyed out. I cannot make any changes.

How can I fix this so the ContactMethods records can be deleted by the users?
Thanks for your input.
djlyonlee

Is this a split database? I.e. are the forms, reports, etc. in one .mdb file
and the tables in a (shared) separate backend? For a multiuser system this
should be the case. If it is, then you must open the backend to change the
cascade deletes property.

John W. Vinson [MVP]

 

[djlyonlee]

I thought I was signed in to the backend, because I was looking at the table.
But I had gone through the switchboard, pressed F11, looked at the
relationships of the tables, and then tried to make changes. I will try a
different path.

Thank you for your input. It helped.

 

[John W. Vinson]

I thought I was signed in to the backend, because I was looking at the table.
But I had gone through the switchboard, pressed F11, looked at the
relationships of the tables, and then tried to make changes. I will try a
different path.

You can look at the table and its properties, even if the table is linked.
What you CAN'T do is change the table's properties or relationships, because
they don't exist in the database you have open - all that you have is a *link*
to the table, which exists in the backend database. You must open the backend
database itself to make the changes you want.

John W. Vinson [MVP]