Record Level Locking

We have an Access 97 backend, Access 2003 front end. Under
tools/options/advanced is a check box for "Open database using
RecordLevelLocking". I read that the Access 97 backend doesn't support
this, so it should be unchecked. On our front-end's this box is checked,
and I'm not aware of any related problems, so does it matter? Also, is it
sufficient to check (or uncheck) the box on the front end, or should it be
checked (or unchecked) on the back end?

Many thanks in advance.

Uncheck the box on the front end. The A97 back end does not have this option
(unless you are "opening" it with a later version which is not ideal).

I've never seen anyone else report the issue, but we did strike a flaw where
a DAO transaction would not complete if this box was checked. The code was
designed to merge 2 clients into one, and involved executing quite a string
of action queries to reassign all the related records in many tables from
the client to be deleted to the client to be retained, before finally
removing the client. Once the box was unchecked on the A2000 and A2002
workstations that were linking to the A97 back end, the transaction
completed successfully.

--
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.

"Sirocco" wrote in message
...
We have an Access 97 backend, Access 2003 front end. Under
tools/options/advanced is a check box for "Open database using
RecordLevelLocking". I read that the Access 97 backend doesn't support
this, so it should be unchecked. On our front-end's this box is checked,
and I'm not aware of any related problems, so does it matter? Also, is
it
sufficient to check (or uncheck) the box on the front end, or should it be
checked (or unchecked) on the back end?

Many thanks in advance.

That said, is there any reason to keep the Access 97 backend as is and not
convert it to some newer version? For example, if all the front end's are
Access 2003, should the back end be Access 2003 also, or should we keep it
Access 97 in case down the road someone who's using, say, Access 2000 needs
to access it?

Thanks in advance


"Allen Browne" wrote in message
...
Uncheck the box on the front end. The A97 back end does not have this
option
(unless you are "opening" it with a later version which is not ideal).

I've never seen anyone else report the issue, but we did strike a flaw
where
a DAO transaction would not complete if this box was checked. The code was
designed to merge 2 clients into one, and involved executing quite a
string
of action queries to reassign all the related records in many tables from
the client to be deleted to the client to be retained, before finally
removing the client. Once the box was unchecked on the A2000 and A2002
workstations that were linking to the A97 back end, the transaction
completed successfully.

--
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.

"Sirocco" wrote in message
...
We have an Access 97 backend, Access 2003 front end. Under
tools/options/advanced is a check box for "Open database using
RecordLevelLocking". I read that the Access 97 backend doesn't
support
this, so it should be unchecked. On our front-end's this box is
checked,
and I'm not aware of any related problems, so does it matter? Also, is
it
sufficient to check (or uncheck) the box on the front end, or should it
be
checked (or unchecked) on the back end?

Many thanks in advance.

You're in Western Australia. Interesting that my question travelled about
as far as it could before being answered. I'm outside Washington, DC.
That is profound. In so many ways.

"Sirocco" wrote in message
...
That said, is there any reason to keep the Access 97 backend as is and not
convert it to some newer version? For example, if all the front end's are
Access 2003, should the back end be Access 2003 also, or should we keep it
Access 97 in case down the road someone who's using, say, Access 2000
needs
to access it?

Thanks in advance


"Allen Browne" wrote in message
...
Uncheck the box on the front end. The A97 back end does not have this
option
(unless you are "opening" it with a later version which is not ideal).

I've never seen anyone else report the issue, but we did strike a flaw
where
a DAO transaction would not complete if this box was checked. The code
was
designed to merge 2 clients into one, and involved executing quite a
string
of action queries to reassign all the related records in many tables
from
the client to be deleted to the client to be retained, before finally
removing the client. Once the box was unchecked on the A2000 and A2002
workstations that were linking to the A97 back end, the transaction
completed successfully.

--
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.

"Sirocco" wrote in message
...
We have an Access 97 backend, Access 2003 front end. Under
tools/options/advanced is a check box for "Open database using
RecordLevelLocking". I read that the Access 97 backend doesn't
support
this, so it should be unchecked. On our front-end's this box is
checked,
and I'm not aware of any related problems, so does it matter? Also,
is
it
sufficient to check (or uncheck) the box on the front end, or should
it
be
checked (or unchecked) on the back end?

Many thanks in advance.

If all the front ends have moved to A2000 or later, DO convert the back end
to at least A2000 format.

A2000 and later use JET 4. To access an A97 back end, the data calls have to
be converted from JET 4 to JET 3.5. While Access does that very, very well,
there is a performance loss in every data fetch and write because the
conversion takes time.

The particular database I referred to (where the transaction failed because
of record-level locking) now has its backend converted to A2000, and the
users reported a perceptible performance gain after the conversion.

For general suggestions on the issues in converting from A97 to later
versions, see:
Converting from Access 97 to 2000, 2002 or 2003
at:
http://members.iinet.net.au/~allenbrowne/ser-48.html

Yes, the planet is an amazingly small village 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.

"Sirocco" wrote in message
...
You're in Western Australia. Interesting that my question travelled about
as far as it could before being answered. I'm outside Washington, DC.
That is profound. In so many ways.

"Sirocco" wrote in message
...
That said, is there any reason to keep the Access 97 backend as is and
not
convert it to some newer version? For example, if all the front end's
are
Access 2003, should the back end be Access 2003 also, or should we keep
it
Access 97 in case down the road someone who's using, say, Access 2000
needs
to access it?

Thanks in advance


"Allen Browne" wrote in message
...
Uncheck the box on the front end. The A97 back end does not have this
option
(unless you are "opening" it with a later version which is not ideal).

I've never seen anyone else report the issue, but we did strike a flaw
where
a DAO transaction would not complete if this box was checked. The code
was
designed to merge 2 clients into one, and involved executing quite a
string
of action queries to reassign all the related records in many tables
from
the client to be deleted to the client to be retained, before finally
removing the client. Once the box was unchecked on the A2000 and A2002
workstations that were linking to the A97 back end, the transaction
completed successfully.


"Sirocco" wrote in message
...
We have an Access 97 backend, Access 2003 front end. Under
tools/options/advanced is a check box for "Open database using
RecordLevelLocking". I read that the Access 97 backend doesn't
support
this, so it should be unchecked. On our front-end's this box is
checked,
and I'm not aware of any related problems, so does it matter? Also,
is
it
sufficient to check (or uncheck) the box on the front end, or should
it
be
checked (or unchecked) on the back end?

Many thanks in advance.