ACC: Troubleshooting Tips for Conversion Issues in 95 and 97

ID: Q141296

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Access versions 7.0, 97

SUMMARY

When you convert a Microsoft Access version 1.x or 2.0 database to a Microsoft Access 7.0 or Microsoft Access 97 database, the conversion process may display a warning message or stop altogether because of an incompatibility with new features and enhancements. This article discusses general troubleshooting tips for the unusual case when Microsoft Access cannot convert a database successfully.

MORE INFORMATION

Compile Errors

If conversion creates a database, but you receive an error message, such as "There were compilation errors during the conversion or enabling of this database," you should compile all modules in the converted database. The converted database may have changes in syntax from version 1.x or 2.0 that you must manually change. In rare instances, the conversion utility may fail to convert some Access Basic code to Visual Basic for Applications code. For example, it may fail to modify a DoCmd statement


   DoCmd OpenForm "MyForm"

into a method of the DoCmd object:


   DoCmd.OpenForm "MyForm"

To compile all modules in a converted database, follow these steps:

Open the converted database in the new version of Microsoft Access.

Open a module in Design view.

On the Debug menu (the Run menu in Microsoft Access 7.0), click Compile All Modules.

As Microsoft Access compiles your code, it will stop at any line that contains an error. Then you can modify the syntax to resolve the compilation error.

Import Objects

If the conversion process seems to stop, takes a long time to complete, or displays an error that prevents the new database from being created, you can create a new database in Microsoft Access 7.0 or Microsoft Access 97 and import objects (individually or grouped) from the version 1.x or 2.0 database.

Importing objects into a new database has two benefits:

You can determine which objects have an incompatibility with the newer version of Microsoft Access. If an object fails to import, then you know to examine it more closely for a potential incompatibility. If an object imports successfully, it is automatically converted to the new version.

You can speed the conversion process by importing groups of objects. If you have a large database, the conversion process may be slow or may appear to cause your computer to stop responding. Importing groups of objects requires less memory and in some cases may be faster.

To use the Import command instead of the Convert Database command, follow these steps:

Create a new Microsoft Access 7.0 or Microsoft Access 97 database.

On the File menu, click Get External Data, and then click Import.

In the Import dialog box, make sure to select Microsoft Access (.mdb) in the Files Of Type box.

Click the arrow to the right of the Look In box, select the drive and folder where the Microsoft Access database (.mdb) you want to import is located, and then double-click the database's icon.

Click one or more (up to 20) objects to import.

Click OK to import the selected objects.

Repeat steps 2-6 until all the objects are imported into the new database.

Reduce Errors

To help reduce errors during the conversion process:

Recompile all modules in the Microsoft Access 1.x or 2.0 database using Microsoft Access version 1.x or 2.0, and then convert the database to the new version. This eliminates any pre-existing compile errors that will cause an error message when you convert the database to the new version.

This may require you to reinstall Microsoft Access 1.x or 2.0 if you installed Microsoft Access 7.0 or Microsoft Access 97 into the same folder (directory) as version 1.x or 2.0. You may want to reinstall Microsoft Access 1.x or 2.0 into a different folder so that you have both versions available for resolving any conversion problems.

Open the database in Microsoft Access version 1.x or 2.0 and look for incompatibilities, such as modules called "DAO," "Access," or some other type library name.

REFERENCES

For more information about converting databases that use 16-bit application programming interface (API) calls, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q147781 ACC: How to Convert API Calls from 16-bit to 32-bit

For more information about database conversion and compatibility, type "conversion and compatibility" in the Office Assistant, click Search, and then click to view "Conversion and Compatibility Issues."

For information about issues related to converting a database, read the "Conversion and Compatibility" section of the Acread80.wri file in your Microsoft Access 97 folder (or in the Acreadme.txt file in your Microsoft Access 7.0 folder.)


Keywords          : kbusage 
Version           : 7.0 97
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        :

Last Reviewed: April 13, 1999