Timer Event Won't Fire In Access 2000

[Wayne Aprato]

I have a database that was written in Access 2003 using the Access
2000 file format. When I run the mdb in Access 2003 everything works
fine. If I run it in Access 2000 the timer event won't fire on my
forms. This is crazy. Has anyone seen this behaviour?

Any help appreciated.

[Allen Browne]

Hi Wayne.

I'm not aware of a specific problem with the Timer event. It sounds more
like some kind of corruption, probably related to the fact that the A2000
uses a different binary (compiled code) than A2003.

Using A2000, make sure the boxes are unchecked under:
Tools | Options | General | Name AutoCorrect
Then compact the database:
Tools | Database Utilities |Compact
Then decompile a copy of the database by entering something like this at the
command prompt while Access is not running. It is all one line, and include
the quotes:
"c:\Program Files\Microsoft office\office\msaccess.exe" /decompile
"c:\MyPath\MyDatabase.mdb"
Compact again.
Check that the code compiles.
See if the Timer event runs now.

--
Allen Browne - Microsoft MVP. Perth, Western Australia.
Tips for Access users - http://allenbrowne.com/tips.html
Reply to group, rather than allenbrowne at mvps dot org.

"Wayne Aprato" <cq*******@volcanomail.com> wrote in message
news:4d*************************@posting.google.co m...

I have a database that was written in Access 2003 using the Access
2000 file format. When I run the mdb in Access 2003 everything works
fine. If I run it in Access 2000 the timer event won't fire on my
forms. This is crazy. Has anyone seen this behaviour?

Any help appreciated.

[Salad]

Wayne Aprato wrote:

I have a database that was written in Access 2003 using the Access
2000 file format. When I run the mdb in Access 2003 everything works
fine. If I run it in Access 2000 the timer event won't fire on my
forms. This is crazy. Has anyone seen this behaviour?

Any help appreciated.

What is the timer interval? Are you resetting it somewhere to zero?

[Wayne Aprato]

Thanks for the reply Allen and Salad but the problem still remains
after trying your suggestions. Further to my previous post, I've
ascertained that it isn't the timer event as I first thought. The
forms that are giving me problems are similar. They are based on
queries. The criteria of one of the query fields is a drop down list
on the form. When a value is chosen from the list the form is
filtered on that value. The default value of the list is "*". I
requery the form on the timer event 100ms after it is opened. If this
isn't done the values don't show because the of the way the query uses
a field on the form as one of it's criteria. The failure that is
occurring makes the form open and not show any records, when it should
be showing them all.

What I've found, since my last post is that the database works fine on
an Access 2000 installation that does not have any service packs
installed - I've tried this on a clean install on another machine.
The problems appear when the installation of Access 2000 has service
release 1a or later applied. I tried this by installing service pack
1a - problem appeared - uninstalled Access 2000 and reinstalled
without the service pack - problem disappeared. As stated earlier the
database runs fine on Access 2003.

I guess the moral to the story is if you want an Access 2000 database,
write it in Access 2000, not Access 2003, even though the Access 2000
file format is used by default.

If you have any other ideas as to what is causing this bizarre
behaviour, I'd be grateful to hear them.

Regards.

[Stephen K. Young]

"Wayne Aprato" <cq*******@volcanomail.com> wrote in message
news:4d**************************@posting.google.c om...

... When a value is chosen from the list the form is
filtered on that value. The default value of the list is "*". I
requery the form on the timer event 100ms after it is opened...

You should not use a timer event for this. Instead, use an AfterUpdate event
for the list of values that the user selects. This is more efficient since
the filter operation is applied only when needed, i.e. after the user
changes selection. Then you can avoid the overhead of the timer event as
well as the unpleasant side effects of timer events in general.

- Steve

[Tim Marshall]

Stephen K. Young wrote:

Then you can avoid the overhead of the timer event as
well as the unpleasant side effects of timer events in general.

Steve,

As an aside to this thread, I use timer events in my splash and about
forms for some primitive animation - turning controls (usually images)
on or off, altering the left and top properties using a form level
counter and a select case intcounter to do the various things. After
2-5 seconds, depending on how creative I'm feeling, the final case sets
the timerinterval to 0.

This is always a bit of fun - for example, for a parking meter
maintenance tracking app, the splash form has a car moving into a
parking sapce, knocking over a parking meter and the money falling out.
A rnd function will occasionally change the car into a rhiocerous or a
tank.

I've done this sort of thing often in A97 - do you think it would cause
the sorts of problem you're alluding to in later versions (I'm dealing
with A2K3 now)?

--
Tim - http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~tmarshal/
^o<
/#) "Burp-beep, burp-beep, burp-beep?" - Quaker Jake
/^^ "What's UP, Dittoooooo?" - Ditto

[Stephen K. Young]

"Tim Marshall" <TI****@antarctic.flowerpots> wrote in message
news:cj**********@coranto.ucs.mun.ca...

Stephen K. Young wrote:

Then you can avoid the overhead of the timer event as
well as the unpleasant side effects of timer events in general.

Steve,

I've done this sort of thing often in A97 - do you think it would cause
the sorts of problem you're alluding to in later versions (I'm dealing
with A2K3 now)?

--
Tim - http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~tmarshal/

I do not know about A2K3, although I will be testing it in the next month or
so.

In Access 2K, after all updates are applied, a timer event can still cause
Access to enter a strange state where form error warnings and other error
warnings are suppressed (such as a query with an error). For example, in
some cases after a form with a timer has been opened and then closed, you
can try to edit a record with a missing required field in a completely
unrelated form or even a table datasheet, and the record will not save, but
no warning message is displayed about the missing field (confusing). Exiting
Access completely and re-starting fixes the visibility of these normal error
warnings.

Steve Jorgenson saw similar behavior and suggested explicitly setting the
TimerInterval to zero prior to closing any form with a timer, e.g. in the
form close event. In my testing, that did improve things somewhat, but I
still saw the same behavior, on more than one computer, all with Access 2000
and Windows 2000. I have not figured out why this occurs.

- Steve

[Stephen K. Young]

"Stephen K. Young" <s k y @ stanleyassociates . com> wrote in message
news:2s*************@uni-berlin.de...

Steve Jorgenson ...

Sorry, that should have been Steve Jorgensen.

- Steve

[Tim Marshall]

Stephen K. Young wrote:

Steve Jorgenson saw similar behavior and suggested explicitly setting the
TimerInterval to zero prior to closing any form with a timer, e.g. in the
form close event. In my testing, that did improve things somewhat, but I
still saw the same behavior, on more than one computer, all with Access 2000
and Windows 2000. I have not figured out why this occurs.

Wow. I'm glad I caught this thread and thank you for going into detail
on this for me - I've saved your post for future reference.

When I started with A2K3, I figured some of the "fun" database apps I do
for my own non-work hobbies (as per my web site) I would be able to
distribute to my friends, many of whom have A2K. My little animations
are a staple of my development, a "signature" (all my apps have a
dancing cow somewhere) if you will.

So far, I've not encountered this behaviour on A2K3, but I am in my
initial "exploration stages" of this product.

There must be some sort of code one can do (and I'll look for it on the
access Web and other sites or google for it) and include on an opening
form so that if the Access used is 2K, then I can save that in a hidden
form or global variable so that the timer interval is set to 0 on
opening forms.

One other question, Steve, if you get this far. 8) The behviour you've
seen, it occurs with all the latest SPs for A2K? I deliberately stayed
away from A2K at work and prevented my organization from using it due to
the negative press A2K received here in 1999 and afterward, but my
understanding is that with all the latest SPs applied A2K is not all bad?

--
Tim - http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~tmarshal/
^o<
/#) "Burp-beep, burp-beep, burp-beep?" - Quaker Jake
/^^ "What's UP, Dittoooooo?" - Ditto

[Stephen K. Young]

"Tim Marshall" <TI****@antarctic.flowerpots> wrote in message
news:cj**********@coranto.ucs.mun.ca...

One other question, Steve, if you get this far. 8) The behviour you've
seen, it occurs with all the latest SPs for A2K? I deliberately stayed
away from A2K at work and prevented my organization from using it due to
the negative press A2K received here in 1999 and afterward, but my
understanding is that with all the latest SPs applied A2K is not all bad?

Access 2K is now very stable for me, after all updates, with separate front
end, back end, and libraries, using Jet and DAO. I always install the latest
updates, which for Access 2K include Office Service Pack 3 and Jet 4 Service
Pack 8, plus the usual security updates. Most of my users are Windows 2000
SP4, a few have Windows XP.

I do have this one unresolved issue, namely a timer form that sometimes
suppresses error warnings after it is opened which continues after it is
closed. My problem timer form performs some complicated synchronization with
other open windows. A self-contained timer form like you suggest, which
solely animates and closes itself, may not have the same problem. I have one
other form that does this, and it seems to be fine. So your animation may be
ok, you need to test it.

- Steve

[Stephen K. Young]

"Stephen K. Young" <s k y @ stanleyassociates . com> wrote in message
news:2s*************@uni-berlin.de...

A self-contained timer form like you suggest, which
solely animates and closes itself, may not have the same problem.

There are other issues with timer forms that you need to watch out for, but
can be programmed around. The timer form seems to become the current form
briefly when the timer event triggers, so operations that use DoCmd or
similar code that operates on the currently active form may accidentally
operate on the timer form. Printing is an example of this, the user might
click a toolbar button to print a report from a standard form, but if you
refer to Screen.ActiveForm your code must deal with the timer form.

- Steve