[AccessD] Trigger code every day

JWColby jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Thu Aug 10 12:10:53 CDT 2006


Rocky,

It isn't going to suck up a lot of server time, remember that Access is a
file server database.  What will happen is that it will run on EVERY  front
end, possibly running more than once if you have several users and each
user's workstation is doing this.  You can get around that by causing it to
only run on a single specific workstation but then that workstation has to
be turned on and logged in to.

I built what I called a "server app", which is an FE that runs on the
server.  Since only a single instance is running, it now runs only a single
time per day / hour / whatever time interval you choose here.

The up side is it runs regardless of who or how many users are running your
application out on workstations, and only a single instance is run.

The down side is that the server has to be logged in to and that user on the
server has to run the application.  If the server reboots and no one logs
in, then the app doesn't run.  Access cannot directly run as a service.

This down side also causes a couple of other inconveniences.  Because I set
the server login to run the app in the startup, if I log in remotely, a
second instance starts up.  It is not immediately obvious that it is a
second instance since you cannot see tasks already running under another
user without looking at the task manager.  I have been known to leave two
instances running accidentally, and I have also been known to shut down the
instance running under the other user (the user logged in from the server
console) and then log off my remote desktop and not fire up the app again
for the still logged in main user.  In fact to do that you have to use VNC
to log back in to the main user's login and start the program.  

This method can also cause problems if you use an open table to speed things
up and then want to compact / repair the BE.  All of your other workstations
can be out of the db but the ServerApp is still logged in and so the BE
can't be compacted.

All in all though, this strategy does work and that is how I handle it.


John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com

-----Original Message-----
From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Rocky Smolin -
Beach Access Software
Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 12:09 PM
To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving
Subject: [AccessD] Trigger code every day

Dear List:

A client needs to run a program every day at the same time to export some
files.  I'm thinking that I use the OnTimer event with some timer interval
(like 5 minutes) and check the clock to see if it's time to do the export.
This app will run all the time in the background and reside probably on
their server.  Is this going to suck up a lot of server cycles?  Is there a
better way to do this?

MTIA

Rocky

-- 
Rocky Smolin
Beach Access Software
858-259-4334
www.e-z-mrp.com

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