Access 2k Report Incompatible in 2003 (Access 2k to 2003 )

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I am at wits end and no closer to a solution. I have a report, actually a couple of reports that were developed in Access 2000. They run fine in both Access 2k and Access 2003 SP3. However, any attempt to edit the report(s) in Access 2003 results in an immediate crash when trying to save or run the report after opening in design view. (see attached for error message).

I have checked the references and there does not “appear” to be a problem. (See below)
A2k
Visual Basic For Applications
Microsoft Access 9.0 Object Library
Microsoft DAO 3.6 Object Library
OLE Automation
Microsoft Visual BAsic for Applications Extensibility 5.3

A2003
Visual Basic For Applications
Microsoft Access 11.0 Object Library
Microsoft DAO 3.6 Object Library
OLE Automation
Microsoft Visual BAsic for Applications Extensibility 5.3

I have created a new database in 2003 and tried importing the report with the same disasterous results. I then tried creating a new database in Access 2000, imported the report, with success, but when editing the new Access 2k version in Access 2003 it again crashes. Is there any place else I should look?

Thanks in advance for your ideas.

Ken

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If you wish, you can attach a stripped down and zipped copy of the database, but there’s no guarantee that Loungers can do anything with it.
Do you have backups of the database that don’t make Access 2003 crash?
How much work would it be to reconstruct the report from scratch?

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Hans,

Thanks, I can strip down a version later on today.

RE:How much work would it be to reconstruct the report from scratch?
It is pretty substantial, but I could probably do it by copying and pasting in a hour. Redoing entirely from scratch considering the layout and alignment of several objects would take much longer. AND there is more than one report that have the same problem. I thought it might be something that others had experienced, or maybe even a known universal problem.

I may try the recreating approach using copy and pasting the controls into the variouis sections of a blank report to see if that will work.

Would the information in the report sent to Microsoft provide any useful information?

THANKS!

Ken

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> Would the information in the report sent to Microsoft provide any useful information?

No, not to mere mortals outside Microsoft.

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Hans,
> No, not to mere mortals outside Microsoft.

LOL. However, by recreating the report section by section and adding individual controls within the headings and details section I FOUND THE PROBLEM! ! !

In the offending report, there are 43 controls within the details section. ALL are text fields, or so I thought. There were two controls that for some reason were “combo box”es. ????? Why would you put a combo box in a report?

At any rate, changing the comboboxes to text boxes all is sweet in the universe again. (Except I can’t fingure out why Access 2k allowed them to get away with it.

THANKS for all your help and ideas.

Ken

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I have been working with something built in Access 2000 at home and using Access 2003 at work.
There was one time when a combo box on a form had an incorrect Rowsource. In A2K the form loaded and showed a blank combo. In A2K3 it crashed and burned. I think A2K3 is much more sensitive to these things. (That’s why I still use A2000!)
BTW Access 2007 coped with it OK

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Steve,

I think you are right about A2k version being more robust/forgiving. However, in this case I think a combo box control on the report was a bad move, regardless of the version.

As far as Access 2007, the user interface is so far removed from all previous versions of Access that unless and until there are features available in 2007 that I must have I am going to stay away from it as long as possible. LOL

Thanks for response.

Ken

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Have you tried decompiling the database? Often this will cure any problems that cause the “I’ve got to close Access” error message to appear.

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Mark,

Thanks for responding. Yes, I did try decompiling (several times) with the same results. I have had success eliminating similar compatibility issues in the past using that approach. However, this one just would not go away. Once I changed the controls on the report from combo box to text box, the problem went away.

Why would you have a combo box on a report? It is not like you can select the items in the combo box. To me, that one defies logic. Is there EVER a time when a combo box would belong on a report?

Thanks again!

Ken

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You can use a combo box to look up a value in a table that is not part of the record source of the report
(For example, the record source of the report could contain a number field CompanyID; the corresponding name is stored in another table tblCompanies. A combo box bound to CompanyID with tblCompanies as Row Source can display the company name by setting Column Count = 2 and Column Widths = 0″,1″)
There are other ways to do this, for example by using DLookup or by adding the table to the record source – it won’t matter if this makes the record source not updateable, unlike for a form – but a combo box is a relatively easy way to do this. Access is smart enough not to display the dropdown arrow in preview and in the printed output.

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Hans,

Thanks! WOW. I had never thought about using a combo box in such a way. That opens a lot of opportunities. I need to play with that.

Thank you again for sharing your knowledge.

Ken

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As Hans mentioned, you can use a combobox on a report to effectively lookup a value based on a field in the table/query behind the report. It is especially useful when the value of the field could be Null, in which case if you linked to this lookup table in your query, you’d need to make sure you used an Outer Join (which can get confusing).

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Mark,

THANK YOU! Although I am not 100% sure why it worked in A2K and not in A03, what you you and Hans described looks very kewl and has a lot of potential. I really appreciate guys like you and Hans sharing your wealth of knowledge.

Ken

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