Container object (DAO)

Applies to: Access 2013, Office 2013

A Container object groups similar types of Document objects together.

Remarks

Each Database object has a Containers collection consisting of built-in Container objects. Applications can define their own document types and corresponding containers (Microsoft Access database engine databases only); however, these objects may not always be supported through DAO.

Some of these Container objects are defined by the Microsoft Access database engine while others may be defined by other applications. The following table lists the name of each Container object defined by the Microsoft Access database engine and what type of information it contains.

Container name	Contains information about
Databases	Saved databases
Tables	Saved tables and queries
Relations	Saved relationships

Note

Don't confuse the Container objects listed in the preceding table with the collections of the same name. The Databases Container object refers to all saved database objects, but the Databases collection refers only to database objects that are open in a particular workspace.

Each Container object has a Documents collection containing Document objects that describe instances of built-in objects of the type specified by the Container. You typically use a Container object as an intermediate link to the information in the Document object. You can also use the Containers collection to set security for all Document objects of a given type.

With an existing Container object, you can:

• Use the Name property to return the predefined name of the Container object.

• Use the Owner property to set or return the owner of the Container object. To set the Owner property, you must have write permission for the Container object, and you must set the property to the name of an existing User or Group object.

• Use the Permissions and UserName properties to set access permissions for the Container object; any Document object created in the Documents collection of a Container object inherits these access permission settings.

Because Container objects are built-in, you can't create new Container objects or delete existing ones.

To refer to a Container object in a collection by its ordinal number or by its Name property setting, use any of the following syntax forms:

• Containers(0)

• Containers("name")

• Containers![name]

Example

This example enumerates the Containers collection of the Northwind database and the Properties collection of each Container object in the collection.

    Sub ContainerObjectX() 
     
     Dim dbsNorthwind As Database 
     Dim ctrLoop As Container 
     Dim prpLoop As Property 
     
     Set dbsNorthwind = OpenDatabase("Northwind.mdb") 
     
     With dbsNorthwind 
     
     ' Enumerate Containers collection. 
     For Each ctrLoop In .Containers 
     Debug.Print "Properties of " & ctrLoop.Name _ 
     & " container" 
     
     ' Enumerate Properties collection of each 
     ' Container object. 
     For Each prpLoop In ctrLoop.Properties 
     Debug.Print " " & prpLoop.Name _ 
     & " = " prpLoop 
     Next prpLoop 
     
     Next ctrLoop 
     
     .Close 
     End With 
     
    End Sub