Moving OLE objects

[ClowneUser]

Hi,
I have a really old access db.. it wasn't created by me and I'm not really a programmer so I'm struggling to figure this out..

It is used to store certificates, on one of the forms there is an small thumbnail of the document ( PDF ) when you click on the image it opens the PDF document... these documents are located on a server that we are looking to retire so we will need to move these... but I'm not sure how to go about this..?

I've found the table that the thumbnail ( I assume ) is located its a field called photo and the data is AcroExch.Document.DC but this is the only reference i can find to this... I can't see where the links are kept...

Any ideas / help with this would be appreciated.

Regards,
Mick.

 

[lameid]

You reference OLE objects in the subject.

Is the data an OLE embedded file meaning it is stored in the database? In design view of the table is the data type where it is stored OLE Object?

In this case you literally need to just copy the database file to the new server and use it from there.

If the intent is to do away with the access database, you have an awful extraction process ahead of you which the rest of this reply is about.

Two ways to extract this data...

Manually go through each record, open the document and then save it to disk named in such a way you can find it.
Or make a form that navigates over all the records one at a time, opens the OLE object and then automates the opened application to save the file OR use Sendkeys to send keyboard commands to save the file.

I have used Sendkeys for Paint for pictures in the past. This is problematic as sometimes the application doesn't open fast enough and keystrokes are lost. You have to verify in the code that each file is saved correctly and stop if there is an error and have enough programming savvy to intervene and continue.

My recommendation based on scope would be to either do it manually OR to hire someone to do the extraction either manually or programmatically (Maybe set a price with clear goal).

I can probably dig up some form code for the ole part if that is helpful.