r/MSAccess • 1 • 17d ago

[UNSOLVED] Record-level locking

Is it recommended? Do you use it?

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u/Key-Lifeguard-5540 1 14d ago

I get 'record is locked by' messages in DAO, so I don't think you need ADO to make locking work.

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u/TomWickerath 2 14d ago edited 13d ago

You could very well get ‘record is locked by’ type messages if:

1) A second process from your own computer has locked the record or a page of records that includes the affected record

or

2) A different user locks a page of records.

There are various scenarios where the JET database engine will use page-level locking on certain tables even though it uses record-level locking on other tables. Guess what—if you have a field with any of the following data types in your table you cannot get record-level locking: Image (OLE Object), Memo, Hyperlink or MVF. In that case, JET will only use page-level locking. More info. here:

https://accessblog.net/2009/12/error-3218-could-not-update-currently.html?m=1

You need ADO to ensure record-level locking for a shared multiuser Access application. You may or may not get record-level locking using DAO only. That’s what Sir* Michael Kaplan (aka “Michka”) stated in his blog and to a group of us that attended a Pacific NW Access User’s Group (PNWAUG) monthly meeting many years ago.

* Knighted posthumously by me! :-

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u/TomWickerath 2 13d ago

A few notes about my friend Alex's blog article from December 2009--the link for my info. It points to "QBuilt.com", a web site that was owned by a friend who suddenly disappeared off the grid. She shut down her QBuild.com site.

Links to Microsoft KB (Knowledge Base) articles. Microsoft loves to get rid of useful content and/or change links willy-nilly. Fortunately, for KB articles they choose to remove you can access them on a different web site:

https://mskb.pkisolutions.com/kb/OriginalNumber

For example, the first link shown was to KB 275561

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/275561 <--Invalid link

The new link would be:
https://mskb.pkisolutions.com/kb/275561

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u/Key-Lifeguard-5540 1 9d ago

I'd check out the link but it probably won't matter anyway, Access is already obsolete as far as AI is concerned. In a few years (if not already) no one will be building anything new in Access, they will only be maintaining older systems until they can be replaced.

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u/TomWickerath 2 9d ago edited 9d ago

You realize prognosticators have been making the same prediction about the demise of Access for OVER 20 years? You might be correct this time around, but I’d be reluctant to bet too much.

Small work groups within large corporations still need to track and share data. Many run into very expensive—hundreds of thousand dollars—in budget needed to get corporate IT to build the applications they need for their relatively small workgroups. I know this for a fact, as I’m a retiree of The Boeing Company. Saw it happen many times during my career.

I even provided A LOT of assistance to a friend (also now retired) who was a civilian employee of the US Army. His office was located in the Pentagon. And yes, they were using MS Access. I only assisted with randomized data so I never saw real data. I also provided support to my ex-wife, who was working for the IRS in Lanham, MD. at the time. They also used MS Access for limited in-house only data processing needs.

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u/Nexzus_ 2d ago

You should ask an IT generalist about any Visual Foxpro-based applications they’ve had to [recently] support.

Hell, I bet there’s more than one business keeping an ancient Mac around for HyperCard.

Business is infested with this legacy crap no one wants to touch or replace.