This is my first post - it may be in the wrong section.
Here's a big ask - I think.
For many years we have been using an extensive database system originally written in Access 97. This comprises a front end installed on several desktops and laptops with the data files on a server running SBS 2003. The suite also integrates with Word to enable the automatic preparation of letters and quotations.
I wrote this myself and I am proud of the finished result. We have been using it as the backbone of our contracting company, and continue to rely on it for customer records, and customer contact, preparing quotations and maintaining some financial information about payments due. It’s a large suite with thousands of lines of code, dozens of forms and stacks of macros and queries. Since completing it around 1998, I have not done any Access programming so I am a bit rusty to say the least.
As we have upgraded our Office Software we have continued to run Access 97 alongside the newer Office products. Occasionally this has proved difficult to install but once working the Access suite runs faultlessly.
On an earlier occasion (perhaps 12 years ago) I did allow a newer version of Access to automatically upgrade the suite but that produced so many errors in the several thousand lines of Module code that it was not worth progressing down that line. So we continued with the updated Office but continued to allow Access 97 to run the Database suite.
Two years ago I up graded my laptop to Windows 7. But continued to run Office XP and, as usual, Access 97 - all went well with that. Recently I decided to upgrade to Office 2010. But try as I might I could not get Access 97 to run alongside Office 2010 even though Access 2010 was not installed.
So I uninstalled Access 97, installed Access 2010 and let it automatically upgrade my database front end. I could not believe it but it completed the task with only one insignificant error! And it worked!
So I am now using Access 2010 to run my front end. Other users in our office are still using Access 97 with no difficulty. The data tables on the server are still in Access 97 format.
Sorry this is going on a bit...
So all is well you might think. Well no - whilst other users on Access 97 are getting the usual results, my computer with Access 2010 is painfully slow.
I thought it might be because the data tables on the server were still in Access 97 format but today I have done a test conversion of the tables to Access 2010 format with no improvement. And on further careful consideration it does appear that the data loads quickly into the forms, but then the hour glass (or the revolving circle) performs for several annoying seconds before returning the screen to the user.
I have stepped through some parts of the code and the only thing that appears to be slow is when the code calls a sub routine or when returning to the calling routine – as though it is having trouble finding the sub routine or its way back.
Additionally when using the record selection buttons at the bottom left hand of the screen Access is slow to respond. As an example: another user running Windows XP and Access 97 would expect to change a record in about a second or better. On my machine (a high end laptop) running Windows 7 Ultimate and Access 2010 it’s about 6 seconds.
We want to upgrade all users to Office 2010, but unless we can get the database up to speed it would be counterproductive. We use it constantly.
I also want to retire, but I can’t leave the staff with a data base that is not running smoothly. Neither can I contemplate re-writing the whole thing in Access 2010 or VBA.
Any assistance will be appreciated. Or should we just continue to use Access 97
Here's a big ask - I think.
For many years we have been using an extensive database system originally written in Access 97. This comprises a front end installed on several desktops and laptops with the data files on a server running SBS 2003. The suite also integrates with Word to enable the automatic preparation of letters and quotations.
I wrote this myself and I am proud of the finished result. We have been using it as the backbone of our contracting company, and continue to rely on it for customer records, and customer contact, preparing quotations and maintaining some financial information about payments due. It’s a large suite with thousands of lines of code, dozens of forms and stacks of macros and queries. Since completing it around 1998, I have not done any Access programming so I am a bit rusty to say the least.
As we have upgraded our Office Software we have continued to run Access 97 alongside the newer Office products. Occasionally this has proved difficult to install but once working the Access suite runs faultlessly.
On an earlier occasion (perhaps 12 years ago) I did allow a newer version of Access to automatically upgrade the suite but that produced so many errors in the several thousand lines of Module code that it was not worth progressing down that line. So we continued with the updated Office but continued to allow Access 97 to run the Database suite.
Two years ago I up graded my laptop to Windows 7. But continued to run Office XP and, as usual, Access 97 - all went well with that. Recently I decided to upgrade to Office 2010. But try as I might I could not get Access 97 to run alongside Office 2010 even though Access 2010 was not installed.
So I uninstalled Access 97, installed Access 2010 and let it automatically upgrade my database front end. I could not believe it but it completed the task with only one insignificant error! And it worked!
So I am now using Access 2010 to run my front end. Other users in our office are still using Access 97 with no difficulty. The data tables on the server are still in Access 97 format.
Sorry this is going on a bit...
So all is well you might think. Well no - whilst other users on Access 97 are getting the usual results, my computer with Access 2010 is painfully slow.
I thought it might be because the data tables on the server were still in Access 97 format but today I have done a test conversion of the tables to Access 2010 format with no improvement. And on further careful consideration it does appear that the data loads quickly into the forms, but then the hour glass (or the revolving circle) performs for several annoying seconds before returning the screen to the user.
I have stepped through some parts of the code and the only thing that appears to be slow is when the code calls a sub routine or when returning to the calling routine – as though it is having trouble finding the sub routine or its way back.
Additionally when using the record selection buttons at the bottom left hand of the screen Access is slow to respond. As an example: another user running Windows XP and Access 97 would expect to change a record in about a second or better. On my machine (a high end laptop) running Windows 7 Ultimate and Access 2010 it’s about 6 seconds.
We want to upgrade all users to Office 2010, but unless we can get the database up to speed it would be counterproductive. We use it constantly.
I also want to retire, but I can’t leave the staff with a data base that is not running smoothly. Neither can I contemplate re-writing the whole thing in Access 2010 or VBA.
Any assistance will be appreciated. Or should we just continue to use Access 97
