ACC: Using Visual Basic to Hide a Link to an External Table

ID: Q188801

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Access versions 7.0, 97

SUMMARY

Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

This article shows you how you can use Visual Basic for Applications to link an external table but to hide the link on your local computer. You do this by creating a new table, creating the link to the external table, and then setting the hidden attribute of the newly created table to True.

MORE INFORMATION

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The following Visual Basic for Applications procedure use the sample database Northwind.mdb to create a new table (New Table); it then links the new table to an external table (the Examples table in the sample database Solutions.mdb); and finally, it sets the hidden attribute of the new table to True so that the table is hidden on the local computer.

Creating, Linking, and Hiding the Table

Start Microsoft Access and open the sample database Northwind.mdb.

Create a module and type the following line in the Declarations section if it is not already there:


Option Explicit

Type the following procedure:


      Function MakeHiddenAttachedTable(strDatabaseName As String, _
               strTableName As String, strAttachedTableName As String)

         Dim db As Database
         Dim td As TableDef

         Set db = CurrentDb
         Set td = db.CreateTableDef(strAttachedTableName)

         td.Connect = ";Database=" & strDatabaseName
         td.SourceTableName = strTableName
         db.TableDefs.Append td
         td.Attributes = dbHiddenObject

         Set td = Nothing
         Set db = Nothing

      End Function

To test this function, type the following line in the Debug window, and then press ENTER:
```
?MakeHiddenAttachedTable ("Solutions", "Examples", "New Table") 
```
A new hidden table named New Table that links the Examples table in the Solutions database is created.

Delete the New Table Table

The following steps demonstrate how to use a Visual Basic for Applications procedure to delete a hidden linked table in the sample database Northwind.mdb:

Start Microsoft Access and open the sample database Northwind.mdb.

Create a module and type the following line in the Declarations section if it is not already there:


Option Explicit

Type the following procedure:


      Function DeleteHiddenAttachedTable(strAttachedTableName As String)

         Dim db As Database
         Set db = CurrentDb

         db.TableDefs.Delete strAttachedTableName

      End Function

To test this function, type the following line in the Debug window, and then press ENTER:
```
?DeleteHiddenAttachedTable("New Table") 
```
The new hidden table, New Table, is deleted.

Additional query words: inf link attach attached


Keywords          : kbdta AccCon TblHowto KbVBA 
Version           : WINDOWS:7.0,97
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: July 6, 1999