Changing Table Names - what's the impact? (1 Viewer)

[Pat Hartman]

If I am going to use NAC, I always turn on the log so I can see it. The logging happens regardless. You just don't see it unless you make it visible. That way I know what objects will be changed and so I know what objects I need to force open before I finish up and turn NAC off again.

 

[isladogs]

We're agree on the analysis but not on the conclusions
We both agree that after renaming, object dependency information is only propagated when the dependant object is next opened.

That is why I wrote that, when using this feature you should do ONE of the following:
a) EITHER open EACH dependant object in turn to ensure propagation has occurred then switch the feature off
b) OR leave Name Autocorrect switched on at all times (it will work correctly with or without the logging feature)

You do a) which is fine providing you are scrupulous at opening all affected objects in turn
I do b) as that will still work correctly even if affected objects are not opened until much later

For several large apps, some objects can have several hundred dependencies. For example:

It really wouldn't be feasible to work through e.g. 126 dependant objects for the Classes table and open each in turn before disabling NAC again
Of course, I almost never rename objects in large, long established mature databases such as that above

It works for me to leave NAC enabled by default. That has been my policy for almost 20 years
I might occasionally turn it off when I need to isolate objects being considered for deletion and even then only after checking depencencies and orphaned objects. However, that is when the problem occurs for any items that have not been opened after being affected by renaming elsewhere.

 

[Pat Hartman]

I might occasionally turn it off when I need to isolate objects being considered for deletion and even then only after checking depencencies and orphaned objects.

But then you had better have opened all the changed objects.

If you leave it on all the time, that's fine. YOU seem to know better than to rename things in mature apps so you are not likely to clobber yourself. We work in different worlds. That is why we have different opinions on certain "features".

 

[ebs17]

Things like object name autocorrection and display of sub-data sheets are performance brakes and should be turned off during operation. In my case, they are already turned off in a new, empty database.

 

[isladogs]

Things like object name autocorrection and display of sub-data sheets are performance brakes and should be turned off during operation. In my case, they are already turned off in a new, empty database.

As with many features, there is a balancing act between benefit and performance. For me, NAC offers sufficient benefit, particularly in new databases. Subdatasheets do not, so I disable them.
In the end, it’s a personal decision in these cases.
Progress bars are another example where, in my opinion, providing user feedback outweighs the additional time needed to run a series of tasks.

 

[xavier.batlle]

hi there - we have a customer that we run 95 queries for as part of their processing. These queries are based on a number of tables that are named in a specific way. They want to change their main table name, but from what I can see, the table names that the queries are based on, don't always seem to change. Therefore we will need to go through every query potentially to see if it works. Is this right? Thoughts very welcome!

I have done it several times and to avoid problems I follow these steps:
- 1) Rename the old table with the new name
- 2) Create a query using the the old table name with all the fields of the new table
- 3) Change old table name with the new table name in all querys (Optional in some cases)

This is not an exaustive list of all the tasks but pehaps you find useful.

 

[ebs17]

Correct. It is important to explicitly point out that automated services running in parallel require resources of their own and take them away from the main application.

Regarding the original question: There are several Find&Replace tools that cleanly perform renaming at any point in the frontend (queries, forms, reports, macros, VBA codes).