Automation Error: Catstrophic Failure [Long]

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  • Andante.in.Blue

    Automation Error: Catstrophic Failure [Long]

    Our Access 97 database is a single-file (non-splitted, pure Access)
    hosted no a network server, accessed regularly by a handful of users
    around the office.

    Until recently (until the Great Blackout, actually), there have been
    no problem with the database. It seems to handle simultaneous users
    fine and did not cause any grief. The blackout corrupted the DB, but
    we restored a pre-blackout version, so everything was good for a
    while.

    We did notice though, that ever since the black out, the database has
    been experiencing various problems. Usually little things that
    Compact / Repair would fix, but every now and then, we would have
    unfixably corrupted forms / reports, and we would have to import
    working versions of them from an older backup in a blank database.

    Just recently, we experienced the weirdest problem yet. The users
    were chugging along nicely when all of a sudden, they would boot up
    the DB and be confronted with an "Compile Error: Automation Error".
    The code would break in the Switchboard, on the line "Dim dbs As
    Database". Several forms / reports would also not function when
    opened manually from the DB window.

    I did some searching on this, and found some instances where broken
    references were the cause of grief, so I checked Tool --> References,
    but everything seemed okay: the usual 3 libraries were checked off,
    and the DLL files seem to be present and accounted for.

    Now here is the great part, I try importing all the objects into a
    blank database, and when I reach certain items, I get the scariest
    error I've seen as a young programmer: "Automation Error: Catastrophic
    Error"! A form and a report also fail to import with "Unexpected
    Error (35012)". Funny enough, the swithboard imported and functions
    without problems.

    Does anyone know what is wrong with my database? Would splitting the
    database alleviate these issues? Why does the database have problems
    all of a sudden?

    Thank you for taking your time and reading this monstrous post. I'm
    rather rattled by this. Any comments / suggestions would be greatly
    appreciated.
  • cafe

    #2
    Re: Automation Error: Catstrophic Failure [Long]

    Not a "monstrous" post at all! Everything you say is relevent & to the
    point.

    As others will doubtless confirm, splitting the database is good for many
    reasons. I think that reducing corruption, is one of them. You have a single
    BE db on the server, with all of the tables but none of the code, then a
    seperate copy of the FE db on each user's PC, with all of the code, & links
    to the tables in the BE db.

    Facilitating code updates is another good reason for splitting the db. You
    just copy the new FE db over each of the old ones. The data stays untouched
    in the BE db.

    You will find tons more info. on db splitting by searching google groups.

    As for the automation errors, I'm not sure what they would be. If I were
    you, I would repeat the "import into a new blank database" thing until
    everything imported ok, with no errors at all. Then split *that* db, & take
    it from there.

    HTH,
    TC


    "Andante.in.Blu e" <6pc7kj502@snea kemail.com> wrote in message
    news:a8e1ab51.0 309160904.3d91a 3e0@posting.goo gle.com...[color=blue]
    > Our Access 97 database is a single-file (non-splitted, pure Access)
    > hosted no a network server, accessed regularly by a handful of users
    > around the office.
    >
    > Until recently (until the Great Blackout, actually), there have been
    > no problem with the database. It seems to handle simultaneous users
    > fine and did not cause any grief. The blackout corrupted the DB, but
    > we restored a pre-blackout version, so everything was good for a
    > while.
    >
    > We did notice though, that ever since the black out, the database has
    > been experiencing various problems. Usually little things that
    > Compact / Repair would fix, but every now and then, we would have
    > unfixably corrupted forms / reports, and we would have to import
    > working versions of them from an older backup in a blank database.
    >
    > Just recently, we experienced the weirdest problem yet. The users
    > were chugging along nicely when all of a sudden, they would boot up
    > the DB and be confronted with an "Compile Error: Automation Error".
    > The code would break in the Switchboard, on the line "Dim dbs As
    > Database". Several forms / reports would also not function when
    > opened manually from the DB window.
    >
    > I did some searching on this, and found some instances where broken
    > references were the cause of grief, so I checked Tool --> References,
    > but everything seemed okay: the usual 3 libraries were checked off,
    > and the DLL files seem to be present and accounted for.
    >
    > Now here is the great part, I try importing all the objects into a
    > blank database, and when I reach certain items, I get the scariest
    > error I've seen as a young programmer: "Automation Error: Catastrophic
    > Error"! A form and a report also fail to import with "Unexpected
    > Error (35012)". Funny enough, the swithboard imported and functions
    > without problems.
    >
    > Does anyone know what is wrong with my database? Would splitting the
    > database alleviate these issues? Why does the database have problems
    > all of a sudden?
    >
    > Thank you for taking your time and reading this monstrous post. I'm
    > rather rattled by this. Any comments / suggestions would be greatly
    > appreciated.[/color]


    Comment

    • Andante.in.Blue

      #3
      Re: Automation Error: Catstrophic Failure [Long]

      Thanks cafe. I just split the database and reimported all the objects
      into a refresh front end for further development; so far so good
      *crosses fingers*

      The thing I've noticed is that the FE ends up being relatively
      small... only 2.6 MB on compact, compared to the 17MB of tables in the
      BE. Now, if network problems conspired to the corrupt the DB, I would
      think that the chances of corruption in a table would be greater than
      corruption of the forms. But -- quite fortunately -- we haven't
      experienced any data lost yet (except perhaps a bit of code from an
      irretrievable form). Now, I'm not complaining, mind you :) I'd much
      rather rebuild a form than lose a table. I'm just wondering why this
      is happening (so at least I can reassure myself that this won't happen
      again).

      Alan

      Comment

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