Rename name fiels of .mdb tables

[tsetse]

hi,

I would like to rename, IN RUN-TIME, then name of a field X in a table Y (in MDB file).

It doesn't seem to be possible via SQL statment like ALTER TABLE ?

Perhaps via API ????

Thanks a lot,

Bye

Jeff

 

[THoey]

Jeff, I am not sure this is possible. But a better question is WHY? You would also need to have the code to go through and change the name of the field in all queries, forms, etc. Not a good idea. Sounds more like an initial design problem.

Let us know what you are really trying to do and maybe we can help you out... Terry M. Hoey

 

[Maquis]

Well, it is possible. (Create a new column z, move data to new column, delete column x), but I agree with Terry. Why do you need to rename a field??????

I absolutely despise having to rename a field while I'm designing a database, because of the hassle of finding all references to the field and renaming those. Changing a field name at runtime would be unthinkable!

If you want the field to have a different name on forms and reports then you can always use an alias in a query instead of re-naming. Maq B-)
<insert witty signature here>

 

[THoey]

I get the feeling this is one of those &quot;I built a DB for Bob, and now Mary wants to use it too, so I have to rename it&quot;. TseTse, I don't mean that to sound mean. I have seen lots of people do it. But it does nothing but make it more difficult later,

Like I said, give us an idea of what your goal is and I am sure we can help you get there... Terry M. Hoey

 

[tsetse]

Hi, th3856 and maquis,

First, thank you for your fast reponses.

Here is my problem:
A month ago I had 2 systems: one AS400 system and one NT-based system. Both were COMPLETELY INDEPENDANT.

Sure, a lot of applications are based on the file 'ARTICLES' with a field named 'NART' (the ID product).
And on NT i have also a lot of MDB-applications based also on a table 'Articles' but with the field 'Réf Article' as ID product (also a key field). 'NART' and 'Réf article' are and must be exactly the same for the coherence of the files.

Today I have an interface application between both systems. With it I can 'export' my AS400 file in a MDB-table but the AS400 fields names are conserved. And here was my question. How can i rename the name 'NART' to 'Réf article' ?. The solution proposed by MAQUIS is good (creating a new field, copying to this new field and deleting the old field) but there were a lot of I/O operations want i have 89 (and not 1) fields to rename ! and 10000 products.

Thanks for your help

Sorry for my english, I do my best
regards from Belgium

jeff

 

[THoey]

I would think that you should import the data from your other DB, create a table on your MDB side that has all the table names as you want them to be, and then write a query that pulls the data from your linked table to your &quot;properly named&quot; table. Terry M. Hoey

 

[Maquis]

Jeff, you can create a query based on your table and rename the fields in the query. The actual field names do not change, but any application which references the query will see the &quot;alias&quot; in the query and not the real field name. You could then use this query to export the data to another application.

For importing data into a table with different field names you can either use an import spec to drop the fields where you need them, or import the file to a temporary staging table and then use queries to move the data into your real table.

This sounds like a much simpler solution to your problem than restructuring the table.

Maq B-)
<insert witty signature here>