Dinbandhu wrote:
<snip>
Tell me, is this copy table wizard usually trouble-free? Or are others
also having trouble with it. I just want to get a sense of whether this
tool is quite finicky, or is it just an isolated sort of problem I am
having and for most folks it goes without a hitch.
I've only recently gotten into this area myself (had a largish table to
get in from a .dbf file, then updates to pick up from Writer tables and
Calc spreadsheets). I had problems with various aspects -- the .dbf one
worked fine (and that's probably more like your Access stuff than the
other sources I used), and so did Calc, but I had some ill-behaved data
in a Writer table that violated uniqueness when used as a key, and Base
added leading and trailing blanks to text fields that made them violate
lengths when I tried to restrict the fields to their proper sizes. (I've
since found out how to strip them off again easily.) The Calc
spreadsheet worked fine, too. So I'd say the success probably depends
more on the source type than anything else, and Access should be pretty
good. To get more of a feel for how frequent the problems are, you'd
probably have to look at the archives of this list and the
[EMAIL PROTECTED] list, or check the Issue Tracker for what it's
got. Maybe somebody else here can help more, or on the dev list (which
seems somewhat more active, and has been extremely helpful for me.)
Also, is the other method--via the cvs file--more dependable? That is,
would you recommend that I go that route instead? If so, is there a
simple command in MS Access for exporting a database as a cvs file?
I haven't tried the .csv route at all, but since that's the most basic
and straightforward format of all, and serves as the most nearly common
language for data transfers, I'd expect it to be the least troublesome.
In Access, if you open a table and go to File > Export, you can set the
Save As filetype to Text Files, which includes .csv. Set the file name
to have the right extension, and Export All; that will bring up an
export wizard that leads you through the rest of the process. "csv"
stands for "comma separated variables" but you have some other options
for separators within that type.
Until I get all my databases brought over, I hope not to have to engage
in a huge struggle every time I have to import another database. If one
of the two methods is more dependable or user-friendly, I'll certainly
pursue that.
Regards,
Swarup
P.S. Don't know whether you had a chance to take a look at the
functionality issue re: when you have simply "connected" with a MDB,
which I had asked Frank about in my last note to him. I have pasted it
just below. Any comments?
1. I would like to know that if I just simply "connect" to the MDB
file
and don't import it, then what sort of functionality is there?
Read/Write data. See MSA's queries as so-called views (i.e. they
behave
like tables, but you cannot edit their constituting statement). Don't
see forms/reports/macros.
I see. That is still very good. I was just unable to find the commands
of how to write data there. That is, the tool bar commands for save,
edit data, cut, paste, and data input, are all grayed out. Then there
above those are the File, Edit (all lines grayed out except "copy"),
view, tools, window, and help options but none of them seem to have any
option to edit the edit the data, add a row, add a column. And I can't
even put my cursor in any of the cells of the table. In fact, there is
no cursor. In short, in my computer the table and the data in it looks
like a picture window. You can see it, but you can't do anything with
it.
Not sure what's going on here, but it sounds as if the data is being
considered read-only. It may be a matter of permissions or locks. Can
you update the data in Access? Do you have Access open on the database
when you're trying to work with it in Base?
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