Fix For Missing Library References

[chunter33]

Hey all,

Recently I've been running into issues concerning library reference integrity. Essentially, I have a series of databases that were developed on a different system (and much older system), and I'm now in the process of remediation so I can upgrade these databases to later versions. However, certain functions in SQL statements i.e. trim, str etc. seem to require me to manually muck around with the references before I can get them up and running.

One fix was uncheking the MISSING library check box. I was curious as to why this causes everything to magically work? If the library is missing, it's not going to know how to handle functions that require that library correct? What does unchecking that missing library really do?

 

[Hap007]

Hi Chunter,

My experience shows that once any library is determined to being missing, then all the libraries begin to fail.

Normally, things like STR and Trim and those types of functions are the first thing a program, with code, will start running, so they show up first as an error, but the reality is all funtions will start to fail once they are reached.

In older versions of Access, if you picked a library that was not in a common or shared folder, then if you move that same access mdb to another PC and the settings were not the exact same, you would see the missing library error.

You also see the error if the library is actually missing or if there is a new version that is named differently or if the library was never properly registered with the operating system or if the library is missing a sub supporting library.

Hope This Helps,
Hap...

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[chunter33]

Thanks for the insight Hap, I already has a general idea of why I was getting those missing libraries and a lot of it does have to do with what you mentioned.

You somewhat answered my question, but I'm still not quite sure how manually unchecking missing libraries in the library reference list solves my problem.

It really doesn't make any sense for my trim and str functions to magically work after unchecking missing libraries, not unless it finds the resources it needs for these functions to work in the other libraries that are checked off... (If this is the case, it would tie into what you mentioned about other libraries failing if one is missing)

 

[Hap007]

Once a library is missing, then all code fails, including the built in functions such as STR and Trim and Right and Left.

When you uncheck a missing reference (all missing references) the built in functions will then again work.

Here is the tricky part

If you have code that referenced the library that was missing, and you unchecked the library, then if you compile the app or run the app and it runs into code that requires the library, then the code will fail at that point.

If you uncheck the missing library and recompile the app and it complies ok, then you probably never used any code in the missing library anyway.

Hope This Helps,
Hap...

Access Developer

http://www.fcs-software.com/fcsaccessdev.html

Access based Accounting Solutions - with free source code
Access Consultants forum

http://www.tek-tips.com/threadminder.cfm?pid=1121

 

[chunter33]

Thanks again Hap.

Once again on the topic of references, what exactly determines if a library is missing? Does it simply check if the specified library exists in the path that is provided? If so, I'm curious as to how upgrading from 97 to 2007 game me issues with the missing library Utilities.mda

I understand that this library once provided additional functionality not already available in the Access repository. However, in later versions of access this functionality was directly built in making it obsolete. I can perfectly understand why the library would no longer be needed, but why would it show up as missing? Afterall, the file is still on my machine, at the very same path as specified in the references window... obsolete or otherwise.

Could it because it conflicts with Access 2007's built-in functionality?

 

[chunter33]

Please ignore the above post, I think I found what the problem was.

One final question I had - what are your opinions on late binding? From what I hear it takes a significant toll on the speed of your database, but what it offers sounds really handy.. and I think it would eliminate a lot of the problems people are having with missing references, especially when you're dealing with multiple client systems each possibily having a different version of Office or other required OLBs.

Can anybody think of any other solutions that can help to eliminate missing reference issues besides what was mentioned above?

Thanks