DBEngine.CompactDatabase Method

Access Developer Reference

Copies and compacts a closed database, and gives you the option of changing its version, collating order, and encryption. (Microsoft Access workspaces only). .

Syntax

expression.CompactDatabase(SrcName, DstName, DstLocale, Options, password)

expression   An expression that returns a DBEngine object.

Parameters

Name	Required/Optional	Data Type	Description
SrcName	Required	String	Identifies an existing, closed database. It can be a full path and file name, such as "C:\db1.mdb". If the file name has an extension, you must specify it. If your network supports it, you can also specify a network path, such as "\\server1\share1\dir1\db1.mdb"
DstName	Required	String	the file name (and path) of the compacted database that you're creating. You can also specify a network path. You can't use this argument to specify the same database file as SrcName.
DstLocale	Optional	Variant	A string expression that specifies a collating order for creating DstName, as specified in Remarks. If you omit this argument, the locale of DstName is the same as SrcName. You can also create a password for DstName by concatenating the password string (starting with ";pwd=") with a constant in the DstLocale argument, like this: dbLangSpanish & ";pwd=NewPassword". If you want to use the same DstLocale as SrcName (the default value), but specify a new password, simply enter a password string for DstLocale: ";pwd=NewPassword"
Options	Optional	Variant	Optional. A constant or combination of constants that indicates one or more options, as specified in Remarks. You can combine options by summing the corresponding constants.
password	Optional	Variant	A string expression containing a password, if the database is password protected. The string ";pwd=" must precede the actual password. If you include a password setting in DstLocale, this setting is ignored.   Note Use strong passwords that combine upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Weak passwords don't mix these elements. Strong password: Y6dh!et5. Weak password: House27. Use a strong password that you can remember so that you don't have to write it down.
Note
Use strong passwords that combine upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Weak passwords don't mix these elements. Strong password: Y6dh!et5. Weak password: House27. Use a strong password that you can remember so that you don't have to write it down.

Remarks

You can use one of the following constants for the DstLocale argument to specify the CollatingOrder property for string comparisons of text.

Constant	Collating order
dbLangGeneral	English, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Modern Spanish
dbLangArabic	Arabic
dbLangChineseSimplified	Simplified Chinese
dbLangChineseTraditional	Traditional Chinese
dbLangCyrillic	Russian
dbLangCzech	Czech
dbLangDutch	Dutch
dbLangGreek	Greek
dbLangHebrew	Hebrew
dbLangHungarian	Hungarian
dbLangIcelandic	Icelandic
dbLangJapanese	Japanese
dbLangKorean	Korean
dbLangNordic	Nordic languages (Microsoft Jet database engine version 1.0 only)
dbLangNorwDan	Norwegian and Danish
dbLangPolish	Polish
dbLangSlovenian	Slovenian
dbLangSpanish	Traditional Spanish
dbLangSwedFin	Swedish and Finnish
dbLangThai	Thai
dbLangTurkish	Turkish

You can use one of the following constants in the options argument to specify whether to encrypt or to decrypt the database while it's compacted.

Constant	Description
dbEncrypt	Encrypt the database while compacting.
dbDecrypt	Decrypt the database while compacting.

If you omit an encryption constant or if you include both dbDecrypt and dbEncrypt, DstName will have the same encryption as SrcName.

You can use one of the following constants in the options argument to specify the version of the data format for the compacted database. This constant affects only the version of the data format of DstName and doesn't affect the version of any Microsoft Access-defined objects, such as forms and reports.

Constant	Description
dbVersion10	Creates a database that uses the Microsoft Jet database engine version 1.0 file format while compacting.
dbVersion11	Creates a database that uses the Microsoft Jet database engine version 1.1 file format while compacting.
dbVersion20	Creates a database that uses the Microsoft Jet database engine version 2.0 file format while compacting.
dbVersion30	Creates a database that uses the Microsoft Jet database engine version 3.0 file format (compatible with version 3.5) while compacting.
dbVersion40	Creates a database that uses the Microsoft Jet database engine version 4.0 file format while compacting.
dbVersion120	Creates a database that uses the Microsoft Access database engine version 12.0 file format while compacting.

You can specify only one version constant. If you omit a version constant, DstName will have the same version as SrcName. You can compact DstName only to a version that is the same or later than that of SrcName.

As you change data in a database, the database file can become fragmented and use more disk space than is necessary. Periodically, you can use the CompactDatabase method to compact your database to defragment the database file. The compacted database is usually smaller and often runs faster. You can also change the collating order, the encryption, or the version of the data format while you copy and compact the database.

You must close SrcName before you compact it. In a multiuser environment, other users can't have SrcName open while you're compacting it. If SrcName isn't closed or isn't available for exclusive use, an error occurs.

Because CompactDatabase creates a copy of the database, you must have enough disk space for both the original and the duplicate databases. The compact operation fails if there isn't enough disk space available. The DstName duplicate database doesn't have to be on the same disk as SrcName. After successfully compacting a database, you can delete the SrcName file and rename the compacted DstName file to the original file name.

The CompactDatabase method copies all the data and the security permission settings from the database specified by SrcName to the database specified by DstName.

Note
Because the CompactDatabase method doesn't convert Microsoft Access objects, you shouldn't use CompactDatabase to convert a database containing such objects.