Unable to design/preview a report

[mvsguy]

I'm an Access noob and apologize if I'm asking a stupid question. The
problem is that I'm unable to design/preview reports on a database.
How do I go about fixing this?

Background -
A user has a database which I need to examine. This user is able
design/preview all reports on a certain database.
When I copy the database to my machine, I am unable to design/preview
reports. I am also unable to design/preview reports when I use my box
to connect to the user's database.

Thinking its security, I signed on to the user's box with my ID and
can design/preview reports. Next I connected to my box using the
user's box. I am able to design/preview the databases on my machine
by using their box.

Is there some setting on my PC that is preventing this?

Thank you for any possible answers,
MVSGuy (I'm still waaay outside my comfort zone)

[Larry Linson]

It sounds as if it could well be a matter of security.

Unless you copied the appropriate Workgroup file (aka .MDW) along with the
database, you'd have automatically used the default .MDW on your machine.
Did you log in to the user's machine with his/her or your own Access userid,
or not have to log in at all?

I'm no "expert" on Access security, but have used it enough to talk about
simple questions.

I never attempt to implement security on an Access database without a
careful review of the Access Security FAQ... it's not brief, and there's no
"filler" material in it... MVP Joan Wild, who _is_ something of an expert on
the matter, listed the following references:

Security FAQ
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=207793

Security Whitepaper
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=148555

and I'll add that there is some very good security information on Joan's
website, http://www.jmwild.com/index.htm.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

[mvsguy]

I've signed on to both machines with both id's. Both id's work on the
users machine. The users id gets into report design/preview on my box,
but my id & box doesn't.

I'm not sure if this is making any sense.

More that somewhat puzzled,
MVSGuy

[Larry Linson]

"mvsguy" wrote

I've signed on to both machines with both
id's. Both id's work on the users machine.
The users id gets into report design/preview
on my box, but my id & box doesn't.

I'm not sure if this is making any sense.

If by "making sense," you mean your description is understandable, yes, it
is. If you mean, "can you explain it?", then no I can't.

That _is_ a puzzler. I think you said you'd copied the database so that you
used the same database on both machines. But, just for grins, if there is an
..MDW file on your machine with the same name as the database, rename it, and
copy the .MDW file from the user's machine to yours and try again.

From what is happening, and not happening, it seems very likely to me to be
a security permissions problem. That user wouldn't happen to be the original
creator of the database, would he/she? If it is being opened with the
database owner's ID, that overrides security settings -- which is why
changing the DB owner is part of securing a DB.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

[mvsguy]

Curiouser & more friggin Curiouser!!

Using the users ID on my machine, I exported the report to an blank DB.
I logged off the users ID & back on to mine.
I opened the DB & imported the report from the blank DB. As there was
already a report by that name, it suffixed a "1". But it DID import OK.
All as expected, right?

But I still can't design/preview this under my id. I get a brief
hourglass and then it returns to the regular mouse cursor.

I'm a noob and an MVS guy. This is WAAAY beyond my skill level. Is
there something stupidsimple I'm missing?

Regards,
kk

[Sebastian]

mvsguy a scris:

Curiouser & more friggin Curiouser!!

Using the users ID on my machine, I exported the report to an blank DB.
I logged off the users ID & back on to mine.
I opened the DB & imported the report from the blank DB. As there was
already a report by that name, it suffixed a "1". But it DID import OK.
All as expected, right?

But I still can't design/preview this under my id. I get a brief
hourglass and then it returns to the regular mouse cursor.

I'm a noob and an MVS guy. This is WAAAY beyond my skill level. Is
there something stupidsimple I'm missing?

>
Regards,
kk

Is there a printer installed on your box?

Sebastian

[MVSGuy]

Is there a printer installed on your box?

Yes. Are you suggesting I hilight the problem report and attempt to
print? If so, I just tried this.
When I tell it to print, I don't even get the printer select window.
In effect, it's performing exactly like the design/preview selection.
Specifically, ignoring it.

Regards,
kk

[Bob Quintal]

"mvsguy" <kk*****@fuse.netwrote in
news:11**********************@35g2000cwc.googlegro ups.com:

Curiouser & more friggin Curiouser!!

Using the users ID on my machine, I exported the report to an
blank DB.
I logged off the users ID & back on to mine.
I opened the DB & imported the report from the blank DB. As
there was already a report by that name, it suffixed a "1".
But it DID import OK.
All as expected, right?

But I still can't design/preview this under my id. I get a
brief hourglass and then it returns to the regular mouse
cursor.

I'm a noob and an MVS guy. This is WAAAY beyond my skill
level. Is there something stupidsimple I'm missing?

Regards,
kk

Let's do a test: On your machine, find the file system.mdw.
Temporarily rename it. Transfer the system.mdw from the user's
machine, try to open the database and report.

If it works, the user has modified the user-level security for
reports on his machine.

restore your original system.mdw and come back for repair
instructions.

--
Bob Quintal

PA is y I've altered my email address.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

[MVSGuy]

Transfer the system.mdw from the user's

machine, try to open the database and report.

When the problem was originally encountered, my machine had no *.MDW
files. I copied them from the users machine.
To follow your suggestion, I zipped up all the MDW's on my machine.
Then I copied SYSTEM.MDW & SYSTEM1.MDW into C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32. Next
I did a shutdown & restarted.

Design/preview is still ignored when looking at a report.

Is there something wrong with my testing methodology?

Regards,
kk

[Bob Quintal]

"MVSGuy" <kk*****@fuse.netwrote in
news:11**********************@35g2000cwc.googlegro ups.com:

>Transfer the system.mdw from the user's
machine, try to open the database and report.

When the problem was originally encountered, my machine had no
*.MDW files. I copied them from the users machine.
To follow your suggestion, I zipped up all the MDW's on my
machine. Then I copied SYSTEM.MDW & SYSTEM1.MDW into
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32. Next I did a shutdown & restarted.

Design/preview is still ignored when looking at a report.

Is there something wrong with my testing methodology?

Regards,
kk

No system.mdw? impossible, unless access didn't work. Maybe
that's a pointer to the problem. Find any other .mdw files on
your machine?

From the menu,
tools->security->workgroup administrator.
This should tell you what .mdw is used on each machine.
--
Bob Quintal

PA is y I've altered my email address.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

[David W. Fenton]

"MVSGuy" <kk*****@fuse.netwrote in
news:11**********************@35g2000cwc.googlegro ups.com:

When the problem was originally encountered, my machine had no
*.MDW files. . . .

Er, if it had Access installed on it, it definitely had an MDW file,
but I believe that it is now stored in the Access program folder,
instead of in System32.

. . . I copied them from the users machine.
To follow your suggestion, I zipped up all the MDW's on my
machine. Then I copied SYSTEM.MDW & SYSTEM1.MDW into
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32. Next I did a shutdown & restarted.

Design/preview is still ignored when looking at a report.

Is there something wrong with my testing methodology?

I see to possible reasons for this:

1. it's a workgroup security issue. You should be able to confirm
this simply by opening the file, going to the Tools | Security |
User and Group Permissions dialog and looking at what permissions
are set on the report you're trying to design. If the database has
been properly secured and you're not using the write workgroup file,
it should show up as UNKNOWN for the owner and you should see no
design permission. If you see design permission, then see #2.

2. it's an MDE and not an MDW. MDE objects cannot be edited because
their modules are not there, only the compiled code. There is no way
to edit the original object except to find the MDB that the MDE was
made from.

--
David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/
usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/

[MVSGuy]

Thank you to all the experts who tried to help. It was not security
based at all.

In the end, this noob figured out how to fix it, if not the basis for
the fix.

I signed on under the users' id, opened the report in design and
clicked, file/page setup. 'Default printer' was selected. I changed
it to 'specific printer'.
Under my id, I was able to design, print, view & call the report from a
macro.

When, under my id, I change it to 'default printer', I am unable to
immediately unable to access the report in any manner.
So I didn't do this more than once.

It might be interesting to hear opinions on why this is happening.

Thanks to all for their attempts to help,
MVSGuy

[Bob Quintal]

"MVSGuy" <kk*****@fuse.netwrote in
news:11*********************@m79g2000cwm.googlegro ups.com:

Thank you to all the experts who tried to help. It was not
security based at all.

In the end, this noob figured out how to fix it, if not the
basis for the fix.

I signed on under the users' id, opened the report in design
and clicked, file/page setup. 'Default printer' was selected.
I changed it to 'specific printer'.
Under my id, I was able to design, print, view & call the
report from a macro.

When, under my id, I change it to 'default printer', I am
unable to immediately unable to access the report in any
manner. So I didn't do this more than once.

It might be interesting to hear opinions on why this is
happening.

Thanks to all for their attempts to help,
MVSGuy

Access uses settings returned from the printer driver for layout
functionality. If you don't have a default printer assigned,
this may cause your problem. If Access cannot understand what
the default printer returns this may cause your problem.

Try changing your de3fault printer or updating the driver.

--
Bob Quintal

PA is y I've altered my email address.

--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com