Inherited a Database - What to do first?

Question

I've "inherited" an Access 2003 database that I know nothing about. When I open it, it displays the switchboard but only one button displays.

The other form elements seen in design view are not visible when I run the form. The Visible property to all the form elements is set to "Yes" (they were originally set to "No" for some reason).

Also, when I go to the "Build Event" of any form element they all go to the Expression Builder as if there is no VBA code behind any of them.

I'm beginning to doubt whether the switchboard is used or not but wouldn't the application open with some sort of main menu so I could look at the properties of elements to see what tables and queries are used?

I experience this same behavior in versions 2003 and 2007. The end-users use version 2003.

Any help is appreciated. I have very little to almost nil experience with actual MS Access applications like this. I originally came from ASP using Access solely as a backend data store.

Answer 1

Sounds like the developer coded a bunch of functions in a Module - HandleButtonClick() frex - that are called from the event procedure. Are there any Modules visible on the Modules tab? Or you can press Ctrl-G (not Alt-G) to open the VBA editor and noodle around looking for the relevant code.

Hard to say without more information.

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John W. Vinson/MVP

Answer 2

Thanks guys. I shouldn've included in my initial post that the tables and queries reside on SQL Server if that makes a difference. Although I have access to the server I'm just having difficulty with the front-end.

Holding down Shift as the db opened didn't do anything different. Perhaps because I have to login to SQL Server during that process? I don't know.

I am familiar with F11 to get to the database view.

The Properities or the Build Event of the buttons go to the Expression Builder and just has, for example, in it:

=HandleButtonClick(2) or some other number. I see no [Event Procedure] anywhere that I am used to seeing to get to the VBA code. (I did create a menu application years ago in straight Visual Basic but not much with VBA).

Pressing Alt-G didn't do anything when the Database View was open.

I see a switchboard table that has rows in it and columns "ItemText" and "Argument" that appear to be the options I should see on the switchboard.

But I still can't seem to get the switchboard working as an end-user would use it in order to get some idea of what this app does. I'd just like to get to that "normal" point of right-clicking on a form element to see what it fires when clicked so I can see what code/macro needs changing. (which was the de facto in other apps I've seen).

Thanks in Advance.

Answer 3

The switchboard uses a table named Switchboard Items.  Does the database have this table?

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Build a little, test a little.

Answer 4

The first step is to open the Database Window (either by pressing F11 or holding down the shift key). Once you have the databse window open you can look at all the forms in Design view. Then open the VBE (Press Alt+G) and see what code snippets are behind what events. That's the only way to trace what the app is doing.

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Hope this helps, Scott<> P.S. Please post a response to let us know whether our answer helped or not. Microsoft Access MVP 2009 Author: Microsoft Office Access 2007 VBA Technical Editor for: Special Edition Using Microsoft Access 2007 and Access 2007 Forms, Reports and Queries

Answer 5

Hold down the Shift key as the database is opening to bypass the startup code. This should at least give you the chance to see the structure of the database (unless of course the developer disallowed the startup bypass). You can also try pressing F11 to open the design window.

It's quite possible that the controls are intentionally made invisible, with Macros (rather than VBA code). What's in the Click event property of this one button? Does it say [Event Procedure], a macro name, or something else?

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John W. Vinson/MVP