Linking Base with precompiled Writer in libreoffice - database

I am facing this new challenge in Libreoffice mainly because I lack of expertise in using databases. This database links have been created on Microsoft Office but I am sure they work on libreoffice as well. What I need to do is to load the record from the database so that I can generate a new document with all fields retrieved from the database.
I have thus my file Database.odb where I have a table with 14 columns and 78 records. the table records are in text format, or date. When I open Writer, I click on the field, then "edit field", it prompts me with "error" and "General Error". I would click the first field as per logic and then ok, but once I close the edit field dialog the error keeps popping again.
I can further explain as I am sure I most probably have omitted important information, but I am sure this issue is an easy problem as all elements seem to be there but yet they need to be properly linked.

Related

MS Access - Form fields do not appear in split database

I am having trouble deploying an access database into a multi-user environment.
I have split the database into front end and back end files. The back end file is on a shared network and the front end has been saved locally on the user's computer. I have checked that the tables are linked correctly and have had no problems opening the tables or viewing reports while using the front end file so I know the data is linked correctly.
My problem comes when I go to enter new information into a form while using the front end file of the split database. This form is intended for data entry only.
My form properties are currently set to:
Data Entry - Yes
Allow Additions - Yes
Allow Deletions - Yes
Allow Edits - Yes
Allow Filters - Yes
Record Locks - No Locks
When I open the form in form view, the form fields and command buttons do not appear, only the header of the form. However, everything does then appear when I switch to design view. When I changed the form property to “data entry – no”, the fields then appeared but I could only view existing entries and could not add any new entries.
I have not specified a specific "Date Mode" within my "open form macro" from my switchboard as I read it overrides the form properties and I am not sure where my error lies.
My client settings for my database are currently set to:
Default open mode - Shared
Default record locking - Edited record
Encryption method - Legacy encryption
This is my first time building a database so this is all still a learning curve for me and any advice is greatly, greatly appreciated!!
Thank you so much.

MS Access database trouble

I have an access database that has been used for many years, converted from Access 2000 to 2007 and was fine. In the last couple weeks it has been doing strange things!
There is a form for 'editing' a record. When the user clicked on the button to open this form, a small white box appeared and said 'Record Deleted'.
After that, the database was corrupted. I support this database and I can not even get into it in design view. When I try to open it (holding the shift key down while opening it), it takes a while, then it displays the Access design page that has the 'blank database' icon and to the right it lists the frequent opened databases.
So, I can't even get the to objects. The only option I had was to restore from a previous night backup. This meant the users lost all their work for the day. Today, one week later, it has happened again. All the users work was lost because I had to restore from backup.
I don't know where to begin to trouble shoot this since I can not get into it in design view when it has become corrupted. Looking for any suggestions to debug this. I can use a copy of the database I had restored.
Thanks
As a first and most important suggestion. You should split your database.You can do this from the database tools tab on top. By doing this you will have a seperate back end independat of the front end and your client will not loose any data as if they get the error / corrupted database it would not affect the data secured in the backend
Second I havent had the exact same error but in the past I have faced instances where the forms just dont work. a recommendation i read somewhere was to create a new blank form and copy over the elements from this form onto that and delete this form. I doubt if there is any problem with the VBA but it would be worth compiling the code to check.
Apologies if this does not help much, but I hope the first suggestions helps protect your client data in the instance your database crashes.
First, check if any automated VBA code or macro is running on OnOpen, OnLoad, OnCurrent, AfterUpdate, OnDirty, etc. events of the troubleshooting forms. Simply open the VBA window and look at code on the specific form's module. Or in the case of macros, open form in design view and check the Event tab of Property Sheet (and the same for specific buttons, textboxes, etc.). There may be DoCmd.RunCommands occurring when users interact with form controls.
Also, if you find yourself unable to open forms or deal with a corrupted database, consider beginning with a blank Access .accdb file and import all objects from the previous Access 2000 .mdb file. And if specific controls don't function properly, recreate them as needed.
As mentioned above, split your database between BackEnd (only tables) and FrontEnd (forms, queries, macros, modules) which prevents corruption, efficiently runs systems as only data is sent across the network and not whole application items, and overall fosters a better multi-user environment. Each user can have copies of the FE on their local machines but all will connect to one BE on a shared network. To help, Access 2007-2013 has a button for this on the Ribbon under Database Tools.

Old links to backend still within frontend but inaccessible, cannot update them

My users are working with a Access database which has been split into a frontend (DB.accdb) and a backend (DB_be.accdb). As they occasionally have to move the files, I've written a function to relink the tables upon startup.
Now, somehow they managed to break the file, I really don't know how. When the RefreshLink function is called for a table, there's always a run-time error (different ones, actually).
For example, error 3022:
The changes you requested to the table were not successful because they would create duplicate values in the index, primary key, or relationship. Change the data in the field or fields that contain duplicate data, remove the index, or redefine the index to permit duplicate entries and try again
I opened the frontend in exclusive mode, deleted the tables and manually relinked them. But a 1 is appended to their names: someTable --> someTable1. Seems like the tables already exist? Maybe they're still in a system table? As relinking would insert the linked table's names there, there would obviously be several tables with duplicate names.
I opened the connection manager, and indeed, it listed the old, wrong links among the new ones I just added.
I cannot refresh the old links - "duplicate values" etc.
I can refresh the new links, but of course I cannot rename the tables (removing the 1) because somehow tables with those names already exist.
I cannot delete the old tables either, as they're not displayed in the sidebar! They don't appear even if I turn on "Show system objects" etc.
I cannot remove the new links and then update the old links, as the connection manager button is greyed out then. Presumably Access thinks there are no tables.
And when I try to Compress & Repair the database, it uses the old links again...
How can I completely remove all traces of the previous links?
To recover from what appeared to be some corruption in the old front-end database file, the solution was to
create a new empty .accdb file,
import all of the Queries, Forms, etc. from the old front-end file into the new one, and then
create the proper table links in the new front-end file.

Creating a custom column: "Append-Only" File Upload

I'm trying to make a custom column (for a custom list), where the users can upload files without overwriting the previous - this way they can keep past versions of the files and upload newer ones and the new ones append. There already exist "append only" comment columns and file upload columns that I can see.
I'm working with Sharepoint designer 2007 (2010 doesn't work with the site), and I'm referencing this code I found online somewhere (http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=0qN89meu), trying to research the Sharepoint documentation on MSDN. I can open the site in designer, but don't know where to go from there (it's already running on a web server, not opening it locally).
I'm just not clear on how to start, I thought there'd be a simple "right+click -> new column" feature but I can't find it. If someone could point me in the right direction to where I could start creating columns on the site, that would be great. Thanks!
An untested idea :
Create a document library with a lookup column to the custom list.
Create an event receiver (ItemAdded and ItemUpdated) than will take the attached files and move them to the other list (with the correct lookup value). --> Code with Visual Studio
Grant to this document library only read permissions.
Adapt the view to display the related documents in the dispform of the custom list.
Advantages:
this seems to answer to your need
you gain all the usability of a document library (nothing prevent you to grant edit rights to other users, force check out, etc.)
Disadvantages:
you have to play with lookup. Can be tricky sometimes, if you play with features
you split one business entity to two entities. You will have to deal with cascading delete (if you need it).

Development standards for SQL Server supporting services?

I am trying to find some development best practises for SQL Server Reporting Services, Analysis Services and Integration Services.
Does anyone have some useful links or guidance they can offer on this subject?
I can only talk specifically to SSIS although some of this wil be applicable to the others as well.
Save your packages as files and put them in Source Control.
Where possible use variables for things that will change from server to server or run to run.
Use configuration files to save the configuration for differnt environments.
When processing data that comes from an outside source, assume it will change format without warning (ie check to see that the data you expect in each column is the data you got!) Nothing like putting the emails in the lastname field (or as happened to us once in DTS, the social security number into the field that said how much to pay the person, sure glad we caught that before someone got paid that amount.).
Things I have seen happen include adding new columns, removing columns that are critical to your process, reaarranging the order of the columns (especially bad when the file itself does not have the column names), leaving the column titles the same but changing the data they contain (yes once I got a file where the last name data was in the column labelled First_name and vice versa), data with new values that don't have a match to values in your system (i'm think of look up type things here like medical specialties), flat out strange data such as notes in an email field, names in this format lastname - 'Willams, Jo' first_name - 'hn' (combine the two fields to get the whole name - apparently their data entry people just typed the name until they ran out of spaces and continued on in the next field no matter where they were in the name!).
Don't put uncleaned data into your database.
Always retain a copy of any files that you process or send out. Amazing how often you will need to research back.
Log errors and log records that needed cleaning, espcially if the problem in the field was such that it caused the process to fail. It is a whole lot easier to see the errors in a table than to know your 20 million record file failed because one record had an extra | in it and try to figure out which one it was.
If you do a lot of similar imports in SSIS, create a template project that has all the standard logging and data cleaning it it. It is a whole lot faster to start from a template and adjust to new mappings based onteh new file you are working with and make minor adjustoments to things specific to that file than to rewrite every SSIS package from scratch.
Store meta data. Sooner or later you will be asked, how often did it fail or how soon after the file was received did the import happen or even when was the last import. All our pacakges start and end with a task to store start and stop times in our meta data table. All failure paths include a task to mark the import as failed in our meta data. Eventually you can build a system that knows how many records to expect and fail it if the new file is significantly off. Meta data can also be used to store things like number of records which can help identify when they sent a partial file instead of the whole file you were expecting and prevent you from blowing away 300,000 sales targets they actually still want.

Resources