Calculations sometimes stop working

[rhodesengr]

I have a ACCESS application that I wrote several years ago and use quite a bit. Sometimes, I will open it up and it does not work properly. I have a form that contains several subforms and one of the subforms has cells that contain formulas like this one


=[fExpense_entries].[Form]![total_form_expenses]

Normally, I see numbers in these cells. But sometimes, these cells are just blank. Sometimes, I can get the db to work again if I open and close it a few times. Other times, that doesn't work and I have to "save as" a new file name. Today even that didn't get normal operation back but I did a full system reboot and then it worked again.

I also sometimes get a message that my file has been opened as read only, and sometimes I get a message that macros are not enabled.


There does not seem to be any pattern to when it stops working or what it takes to fix it.
Can someone give me an idea what is going on here. I'd just like to be able to open up my database and have it work without having to open/close, rename, reboot, etc.

shown below in Design View

[ssanfu]

=[fExpense_entries].[Form]![total_form_expenses]

While this might work (most of the time), it doesn't look correct to me.
It looks like you are puling a value from a control, but I can't determine from where.
Would you explain the form/subform names and relationships?

I use this site to get the form/subform syntax correct:
http://access.mvps.org/access/forms/frm0031.htm


Do you/Have you tried Compact and Repair?

[rhodesengr]

It could well be I am not using the best sytax because I really don't know what i doing. I banged away at this about four years ago and it does work, until sometimes it doesn't work. As I said, yesterday, i got it to work again by rebooting my computer.

I'll try to describe how it works. The form ftimesheets has two subforms:fTime_entries and fExpense_entries. In form view they just look like three column spreadsheets: date, description, amount. Each of the subforms has a total, total time and total expenses. The fields at the top of the fTimesheet just show those sub-totals from the subforms and the grand total (time charges plus expense charges).

I tried to get a screen shot of how it looks in form view but it doesn't all fit in the window and when I try to press "shift print screen", the shift key makes it jump back to the top of the form so you can't see the sub-forms in the view.

[ssanfu]

From the picture, it looks like you have a main form (fCases) with a subform (ftimesheets??) with two sub-subforms (fTime_entries and fExpense_entries??).

You might try using:

=Me!fTime_entries.Form!total_form_Labor

=Me!fTime_entries.Form!total_form_Hours

=Me!fExpense_entries.Form!total_form_expenses

Would you care to post the dB? Just leave a couple of records; change any sensitive info.
Do a Compact and Repair, then Zip it.

[rhodesengr]

Steve,
Thanks for you help. Yes, fcases is the upper level main form. I don't mind posting it but I need to delete all the real info and add some dummy records. Might take a day or two to get that done.

Any idea though why it would stop working sometimes?

[ssanfu]

Not a clue....

It could be a host of reasons.
Do you regularly do a Compact and Repair?
Do you edit code while it is running? This is a known cause of corruption...

I had a critical dB that started having problems... quitting, "losing internet connection (within our local LAN)", etc......
Took over 3 weeks to fix; but I learned how to de-compile, when NOT to edit code and to frequently "Compact and Repair" (at least every day, if not hourly while programming - including adding/editing/deleting Access objects).
The VBA project was getting more and more corrupt. Managed to save the FE..but it was close.

[rhodesengr]

I tried your syntax and it didn't work. I tried some variants also, and they didn't work. I could not get anything starting with Me! to work.
It was not too bad to make up a stripped down version of the db so here is attached.

To use it:
1. go to the bottom of the list of forms and double click "Switchboard".
2. click "select case"
3. click the drop down arrow and select the one available case
4. click "open case" and the case form will open
5. scroll down below the "open timesheet" button to see the timesheet form. It is the cells (controls?) in the upper right corner that sometimes come up blank

other functionality:
to make a timesheet report
1. Click the "Open Timesheet" button
2. On the new window that pops up, click the "preview invoice or timesheet" button

That will open up a report which would be an invoice I send out to get paid





RE_syntax_test.zip

[rhodesengr]

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