Troubleshooting | Special Edition Using Microsoft Office Access 2003

Invalid Database Locked Messages When Compiling in Place

You receive the "database that is already opened" message shown in Figure 3.21 when you attempt to compact and repair the currently open database in place.

Figure 3.21. This message indicates that the operation you're attempting can't be completed because there's another instance of the database running or an exclusive lock on the database file hasn't been released.

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This message occurs if you or you and another user have two copies of Access running with the same database open. If you know that you have only a single instance of the database open, the message is the result of a locking bug. In most cases, closing and reopening Access solves the locking problem. If not, you need to reboot Windows and try again.

Compile Errors in the Convert Database Process

Error messages appear when converting to Access 200x from early Access versions.

Access 2.0 and earlier were 16-bit applications. The first error message you might receive is "There are calls to 16-bit dynamic-link libraries (.dll) in this application." In this case, you must alter the code of Declare statements to call the current 32-bit equivalents of the 16-bit DLLs. For example, you must change calls to functions in User.dll, Kernel.dll, and Gdi.dll to User32.dll, Kernel32.dll, and Gdi32.dll.

A more common error message when converting Access 2.0, 95, and 97 applications is "There were compilation errors during the enabling or conversion of this database." If you're converting from Access 2.0, many of these errors are likely to arise from Access Basic reserved words and symbol usage that VBA 6.0 doesn't support. Similar problems occur with applications that originated in Access 2.0 or earlier and were converted to Access 9x. In some cases, conversion of earlier application versions to Access 97, and then to Access 2000 format is easier than attempting direct conversion. There's seldom a need to convert Access 97 and earlier files to Access 2002. See Chapter 32 for additional information on conversion issues.