Getting access to access " This action is only valid for products" (1 Viewer)

[jd_boss_hogg]

Hi All - sorry that i only post here when a i have a problem, but hoping som kind soul can give me a bit of advice.

A module stopped working yesterday, one that emails customers. So, i rebooted and tried to run the MDB file and i get a popup box warning "This action is only valid for products that are currently installed" .... strange. i cant click on ANY MDB files without the same warning.

If i open access, and then load the same database from the file history, i get no error messages at all and it seems to load fine. However, i want to check the module out to remind myself how it works , but i cant find out how to see access in developer mode.

i cant do the normal "shift" when double clicking, because i get the "This action is only valid for products that are currently installed" warning again.

Any ideas why ive sudenly got that error message for all databases, and secondly how i can get into developer mode without the shift key trick ?

Thansk very much in advance.....

John

 

[The_Doc_Man]

By any chance did someone upgrade a software package on the machine in question? Or did you have a (dreaded) Windows patch?

If there was a Windows patch, you can go to the Windows Update panel and tell it to list recent updates in chronological order by ascending age/descending date. If a patch occurred at / about the same time that this happened, try to "back out" the patch. That is possible sometimes, and if it really WAS due to a patch, you might get back your function.

What bothers me more is this statement:

However, i want to check the module out to remind myself how it works , but i cant find out how to see access in developer mode.

If you don't have a copy of the raw files used to make this app you are running, then you weren't the developer. In effect, you are asking us to tell you how to break into someone else's product. Without a lot more info, I'm staying away from that part of your issue. No offense is intended, but I see too many question marks here.

The patch? I have no qualms telling you about THAT kind of fix. Breaking in to code because you don't have the developer's copy of the app? For me that would be a personal ethics violation.

 

[isladogs]

As you say that you are getting the error message for all databases, you may need to repair your office installation.

The fact that you are using MDB files suggests you may be using an old version of Office.
It would be helpful to tell us your Office & Windows versions and whether either of them are 64-bit

 

[jd_boss_hogg]

thanks for the tip on windows updates.

yes, i'm definitely the developer. i developed our access database about 15 years ago. i spend about 10 hours a year developing, in a small business such as ours, you wear many , many hats, especially when you are the onlly techy one . All self tought, 90% of it now forgotten so i end up learning all over again when soemthing goes wrong. i have multiple backups of the dbase, so "der" i should have thought about this earlier, i just used one of those and they all work fine with the "shift" key, so ive checked out my module , have now remmebered that it fires off emails through a PDF printer, and that all works fine.....so it's all pointing to this current PC that has the problems.

I appreciate your caution - no offence taken.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Well, if I jogged your memory to help you find the "open" version, then well and good. So... a PDF printer, eh? Was there an Adobe update recently?

If it is only on the one PC, then how do you GET to the PDF printer? Networked? Hard wired? What is different for that PC that is unchanged for the other PCs? You are looking for hardware, software, domain, or network interface changes.

If it is possible to do so, a manual test of the PDF printer's e-mail function from the offending PC might help, because it would rule out places to look depending on the answer you got. Things that used to work don't just STOP working. If they DO stop, it is for cause.