Data disappearing - without apparent cause

[Huw Davies]

Firstly, please accept my apologies if this problem has already been
answered in other posts / groups. I have searched as best I can, but I
can't find the exact same problem elsewhere.

I have an AC2003 database (split into FE/BE) that provides (amongst
other things) the ability for users to mail merge. In order to give the
user control over where mail merged documents are stored, I have
provided a couple of fields on a form where folder names can be
stored, e.g. C:\My Application\Letters,(the fields are part of the
table that is the form's control source). As different users may want
to store the merged documents in different places on their PC's (or
even on the network server where the BE is), the table containing the
fields is actually local to the FE part of the database, and NOT on the
BE, that's to say that each user writes to, and reads from, their own
table. Note that it is not envisaged that users will change the folder
paths frequently - they would normally be set once after the database
is put on their PC and then left alone.

Over the last few days, some users have complained that the mail merge
is failing, and on ivestigation, I have found that the fields have been
cleared of the data - apparently without the users doing anything more
serious than closing the system at night and then re-opening it the
following morning.

I do not beleive this is a "user error" problem, it has happened to too
many people - all of whom are experienced in running the application.

I also don't think that it's a network problem - this particular set of
data is always stored locally on the same PC as the FE, irrespective of
where the BE may be located.

The form is requeried ON OPEN to refresh a series of unbound text boxes
that are also on the form, but I can't see that this would cause the
problem either.

I would be grateful for any suggestions as to where I might start to
look for the cause of this problem.

Regards,

Huw.

[Brian Wilson]

"Huw Davies" <ri**************@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:11*********************@g14g2000cwa.googlegro ups.com...

Firstly, please accept my apologies if this problem has already been
answered in other posts / groups. I have searched as best I can, but I
can't find the exact same problem elsewhere.

I have an AC2003 database (split into FE/BE) that provides (amongst
other things) the ability for users to mail merge. In order to give the
user control over where mail merged documents are stored, I have
provided a couple of fields on a form where folder names can be
stored, e.g. C:\My Application\Letters,(the fields are part of the
table that is the form's control source). As different users may want
to store the merged documents in different places on their PC's (or
even on the network server where the BE is), the table containing the
fields is actually local to the FE part of the database, and NOT on the
BE, that's to say that each user writes to, and reads from, their own
table. Note that it is not envisaged that users will change the folder
paths frequently - they would normally be set once after the database
is put on their PC and then left alone.

Over the last few days, some users have complained that the mail merge
is failing, and on ivestigation, I have found that the fields have been
cleared of the data - apparently without the users doing anything more
serious than closing the system at night and then re-opening it the
following morning.

I do not beleive this is a "user error" problem, it has happened to too
many people - all of whom are experienced in running the application.

I also don't think that it's a network problem - this particular set of
data is always stored locally on the same PC as the FE, irrespective of
where the BE may be located.

The form is requeried ON OPEN to refresh a series of unbound text boxes
that are also on the form, but I can't see that this would cause the
problem either.

I would be grateful for any suggestions as to where I might start to
look for the cause of this problem.

Regards,

Huw.

Everything seems pretty clearly explained here but I can't work out whether
the users see a visible textbox control contaning the path and whether they
have any mechanism to change it. If they did, then it would be easy to
check this is not null before you proceed with the mailmerge routine. In
fact you could do more than check for IsNull: you could check the folder
really exists, or even try to create/delete a tiny text file - to make sure
the user has permissions.
We don't have much detail on how the mailmerge relies on the unbound
textboxes, but a a general comment, the OnOpen event might be a bit early to
get the values from the bound fields - tr moving it a stage later -
likeOnLoad