[AccessD] Macros (ugh)

Sat Nov 22 20:20:20 CST 2025

Not for nothing (And I know you said this was Perplexity - but isn’t
OpenAI’s model one of the models Perplexity uses?) I have found OpenAI
(ChatGPT all the way up to 5) made up all kinds of garbage when asking to
explain anything technical inside Microsoft VBA enabled application. Like
out of whole cloth. And when pressed gave links to completely unrelated
technical articles. Then admits to it when cornered. But its reasons get
increasingly BS-ing the more you challenge. I lost countless hours dealing
with that during a challenging assignment.

I give all this preamble to ask this:  On what basis do you judge its
answer “good” Stuart? As in, you applied it and it really explained
something (correctly!) - or that it sounded good?

I mean this with all the respect in the world, I would love to find out I
might once again go back to having hopeful expectations for what promises
this technology might one day deliver on. But it has sent me down so many
blind alleys in 2024 and 2025.

On Sat, Nov 22, 2025 at 9:12 PM Stuart McLachlan <stuart at lexacorp.com.pg>
wrote:

> ChatGPT had an issue with the the question, but Perplexity was quite good:
>
>  error "A macro set to one of the current field's properties failed
> because of an error
> in a FindRecord action argument" in an old MS Access application using
> DoCmd.FindRecord typically occurs when the FindRecord method is called
> with
> invalid or missing arguments, especially the "FindWhat" argument. Although
> the
> error message mentions a "macro," it can happen even when no macros are
> defined in the database. This is because Access internally treats some
> form control
> properties and event actions as macros, and the error arises from these
> "macro-like" properties failing due to incorrect or incomplete FindRecord
> parameters.
> ...
> The error is an Access internal way of reporting that the FindRecord
> action
> arguments are improper or incomplete, causing the underlying "macro"
> linked to
> the field property to fail, despite no explicit macros existing in the
> database. The
> error is an Access internal way of reporting that the FindRecord action
> arguments
> are improper or incomplete, causing the underlying "macro" linked to the
> field
> property to fail, despite no explicit macros existing in the database.
>
> On 22 Nov 2025 at 17:46, Rocky Smolin wrote:
>
> > Thanks Gustav.  That's a lot cleaner way to do that than the original
> > programmer did it - probably back in the previous century.
> >
> > So I do not get the message about macros, which is progress.  Still
> > doesn't find the record, though.
> >
> > The Find field - case# - is a PK so long integer. . My test case has
> > the case# of -2144103239. I don't know how they got that big, but
> > there it is. Couple that have anything to do with the failure to Find?
> >
> > TIA
> >
> > Rocky
> >
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Nov 21, 2025 at 11:38PM Gustav Brock via AccessD <
> > accessd at databaseadvisors.com> wrote:
> >
> > > Hi Rocky
> > >
> > > Don't know about the macros, but that code opens the recordset
> > > multiple times. Try being more specific and use one instance only:
> > >
> > > Dim Records As DAO.Recordset
> > >
> > > Set Records = Me.RecordsetClone
> > > If Records.RecordCount > 0 Then
> > >     Records.FindFirst "[case#] = " & Me![List283]
> > >     If Not Records.NoMatch Then
> > >         Me.Bookmark = Records..Bookmark
> > >     Else
> > >         MsgBox Me![List283] & " " & Me.List283.Column(1) & " not
> > >         found."
> > >     End If
> > >     Records.Close
> > > End If
> > >
> > > /gustav
> > >
> > > ________________________________
> > > Fra: AccessD <accessd-bounces+gustav=cactus.dk at databaseadvisors.com>
> > > på vegne af Rocky Smolin <rockysmolin2 at gmail.com> Sendt: Lørdag 22
> > > November 2025 02:43 Til: Access Developers discussion and problem
> > > solving < accessd at databaseadvisors.com> Emne: [AccessD] Macros (ugh)
> > >
> > > Dear List:
> > >
> > > I am working with a database which was written in 97 and the client
> > > has only the replica. So I managed to import all of the objects into
> > > a new front end  and display the data entry main form which (after
> > > creating an abbreviated main menu) I have to get working.
> > >
> > >
> > > First problem was that recordsetclone does not work.  NoMatch is
> > > True.
> > >
> > > Me.RecordsetClone.FindFirst "[case#] = " & Me![List283]
> > > MsgBox Me.RecordsetClone.NoMatch & " " & Me![List283] & " " &
> > > Me.List283.Column(1)
> > > Me.Bookmark = Me.RecordsetClone.Bookmark
> > >
> > > where case# is an autonumber field and Me![List283]  is a list box
> > > of case numbers and column (1) of that list box is the client name.
> > >
> > > So I tried DoCmd.FindRecord ME![case#]
> > >
> > > But I get an error:
> > >
> > > A macro set to one of the current field's properties failed because
> > > of an error in a FindRecord action argument.
> > >
> > > So I deleted all the macros in the navigation pane.
> > >
> > > Same error message.
> > >
> > > Then I ran:
> > >
> > > ' Iterate through all macros in the AllMacros collection
> > > Set dbs = Application.CurrentProject
> > > For Each obj In dbs.AllMacros
> > > Debug.Print obj.Name ' Print macro name in Immediate Window
> > > Next obj
> > >
> > > and it found no macros. Which I would expect as it's looking in the
> > > Macro container.
> > >
> > > So where could this macro be hiding?
> > >
> > > MTIA
> > >
> > > Rocky
> > > --
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> > >
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>
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