Tool for finding references to and from tables/queries/reports/forms/objects

Jonathan LaRosa

Hi all -

I'm wondering if anyone has (or knows of) a tool that will allow me to
search through VB code, tables, queries, reports, forms, and other
objects, for references to all other types of objects.

That's not really that clear, so here's an example:

If I have a table named
"table_i_would_like_to_delete_but_don't_know_if_an y_object_is_using_it",
is there a way I can determine what forms/queries/reports/VB
code/other objects are getting data from it?

Another way to think about it is almost like a reverse lookup. So
let's say I have a form that I know is bound to a query. Well it's
easy to say "ok, this query is being used by this form." But I want
to programatically go through all other objects and figure out what
else is using/bound to this query. It's like there is a one-to-X
relationship between an object and X number of other objects and I
want to figure out what X equals (any number >= 0) and then what the
names of those X objects are.

To do this seems like it would take a fair amount of work, but I can't
imagine that others haven't had the need for this type of tool in the
past. There might even be something built into Access that I don't
know about (would M$ actually create something that robust and
useful?).

Thanks in advance,
Jon LaRosa
TDC
www.tdcorp.org

Nov 12 '05 #1

Larry Linson

Two tools that are well-regarded for this purpose are:

Speed Ferret, http://www.moshannon.com, a commercial software package (I've
used and liked this one) and FindAndReplace, from http://www.rickworld.com,
a shareware package (I last used this one in its Access 2.0 version).

Also, Total Access Analyzer from FMS, Inc., provides a general
crossreference report and CodeTools from FMS, Inc. has a feature to provide
an unused objects output, if I recall correctly. FMS, Inc. is at
http://www.fmsinc.com.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

"Jonathan LaRosa" <jl*****@alumni.brown.edu> wrote in message
news:e6**************************@posting.google.c om...

Hi all -

I'm wondering if anyone has (or knows of) a tool that will allow me to
search through VB code, tables, queries, reports, forms, and other
objects, for references to all other types of objects.

That's not really that clear, so here's an example:

If I have a table named
"table_i_would_like_to_delete_but_don't_know_if_an y_object_is_using_it",
is there a way I can determine what forms/queries/reports/VB
code/other objects are getting data from it?

Another way to think about it is almost like a reverse lookup. So
let's say I have a form that I know is bound to a query. Well it's
easy to say "ok, this query is being used by this form." But I want
to programatically go through all other objects and figure out what
else is using/bound to this query. It's like there is a one-to-X
relationship between an object and X number of other objects and I
want to figure out what X equals (any number >= 0) and then what the
names of those X objects are.

To do this seems like it would take a fair amount of work, but I can't
imagine that others haven't had the need for this type of tool in the
past. There might even be something built into Access that I don't
know about (would M$ actually create something that robust and
useful?).

Thanks in advance,
Jon LaRosa
TDC
www.tdcorp.org

Nov 12 '05 #2

Phil Stanton

I have a database which will tell you what queries use what tables and what
reports and forms they are used for. Ditto subforms, tables etc, but the
database does not analyse code. If you want a copy, e-mail me direct.

Phil

"Jonathan LaRosa" <jl*****@alumni.brown.edu> wrote in message
news:e6**************************@posting.google.c om...

Hi all -

I'm wondering if anyone has (or knows of) a tool that will allow me to
search through VB code, tables, queries, reports, forms, and other
objects, for references to all other types of objects.

That's not really that clear, so here's an example:

If I have a table named
"table_i_would_like_to_delete_but_don't_know_if_an y_object_is_using_it",
is there a way I can determine what forms/queries/reports/VB
code/other objects are getting data from it?

Another way to think about it is almost like a reverse lookup. So
let's say I have a form that I know is bound to a query. Well it's
easy to say "ok, this query is being used by this form." But I want
to programatically go through all other objects and figure out what
else is using/bound to this query. It's like there is a one-to-X
relationship between an object and X number of other objects and I
want to figure out what X equals (any number >= 0) and then what the
names of those X objects are.

To do this seems like it would take a fair amount of work, but I can't
imagine that others haven't had the need for this type of tool in the
past. There might even be something built into Access that I don't
know about (would M$ actually create something that robust and
useful?).

Thanks in advance,
Jon LaRosa
TDC
www.tdcorp.org

Nov 12 '05 #3