This was just a little exercise in VBA.
I hadn't seen any table comparison programs, so I decided to write one.
I wrote this without much planning. More than anything I'd like to
hear about design issues. I made some initial assumptions and didn't
change a thing while building it.
1) Link to the target tables.
JET SQL doesn't support multiple "From Table In 'c:...'
Therefore at least one of the tables must reside in the local DB.
Are linked tables the best approach?
2) Require a primary key.
If the table has no primary key, I'd have to treat ALL fields as Primary
Keys. Any data mod is a Deletion/Insertion.
Without a Primary Key the table is tossed out.
3) Max of 10 Primary Keys.
Arbitrary, seemed more than generous.
4) Limit total fields displayed to 20.
Forms have limitations. I can't dynamically create fields because I'll
kill the form after a short time (total # of lifetime fields = 750 or so).
Plus, the Conditional Formatting can't be done programmatically.
The underlying display table can only hold about 80 or so records.
This seems to be the critical issue. It would be nice to see the number
increase, but 20 can be a lot. Also, a good bit of the logic involves
keeping the PKs + Chosen columns under 20. That's not good.
5) Display with Continuous Forms.
Would Datasheet view be better?
Any thoughts on the above would be welcome.
I don't know if I'm gonna spend much more time on this. I'd like to hear
about the Design, but I wouldn't mind hearing of (or seeing) a different
approach.
Wayne
I hadn't seen any table comparison programs, so I decided to write one.
I wrote this without much planning. More than anything I'd like to
hear about design issues. I made some initial assumptions and didn't
change a thing while building it.
1) Link to the target tables.
JET SQL doesn't support multiple "From Table In 'c:...'
Therefore at least one of the tables must reside in the local DB.
Are linked tables the best approach?
2) Require a primary key.
If the table has no primary key, I'd have to treat ALL fields as Primary
Keys. Any data mod is a Deletion/Insertion.
Without a Primary Key the table is tossed out.
3) Max of 10 Primary Keys.
Arbitrary, seemed more than generous.
4) Limit total fields displayed to 20.
Forms have limitations. I can't dynamically create fields because I'll
kill the form after a short time (total # of lifetime fields = 750 or so).
Plus, the Conditional Formatting can't be done programmatically.
The underlying display table can only hold about 80 or so records.
This seems to be the critical issue. It would be nice to see the number
increase, but 20 can be a lot. Also, a good bit of the logic involves
keeping the PKs + Chosen columns under 20. That's not good.
5) Display with Continuous Forms.
Would Datasheet view be better?
Any thoughts on the above would be welcome.
I don't know if I'm gonna spend much more time on this. I'd like to hear
about the Design, but I wouldn't mind hearing of (or seeing) a different
approach.
Wayne
