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  1. #1
    d3ell is offline Novice
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    Saving reports directly to a dropbox folder

    Hi All,

    I'm sure i'm not the first to have this problem, although I have searched the forum and cant find anything similar so hoping someone can help out.

    I'm not a whizz on Access and I set up a database, with some help a few years ago. This database has worked seamlessly for the past 2 years, however to keep up with the times my company is having to move to an online system, which is dropbox.

    My current database produces reports which currently save to a folder on our server. the filepath is always the same, no matter who opens the database on any computer. (I hope you're still following me!...) the VB Script we use is below...

    Private Sub Command125_Click()
    Dim FileName As String
    Dim FilePath As String
    FileName = "Plot " & Me.Customer_Plot_No & " " & Me.Development & " Remedial works report"
    FilePath = "\\bellserver\network shares\Customer Care\Remedial Reports" & FileName & ".pdf"


    DoCmd.OutputTo acOutputReport, "Report1", acFormatPDF, FilePath
    MsgBox "Report Saved Successfully", vbInformation, "save confirmed"
    End Sub

    As you can see from the above the filepath saves directly to our server.

    Is it possible to save directly to our new dropbox folder? - When I change the filepath to "https://www.dropbox.com/work/Bell%20Team%20Folder/bell%20electrical/CUSTOMER%20CARE/Remedial%20Reports/Work Sheets/" & FileName & ".pdf"

    I get an error and I believe this to be because it cant save to that filepath! (which I expected!)

    The issue I have is that several different people in my company use this database on several different computers, generally at different times so I cant just change the filepath to the dropbox folder that's located on any one computer as it wouldn't save if someone opened on a different computer.

    My question would be, is it possible to save directly to an online folder?
    Or, would someone be able to write the script for me so that rather than just clicking the button and it saves, it would then open a dialogue box where the user could choose to save the file.

    Your help would be appreciated!

    Thanks

  2. #2
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    put drop box on your server and do it exactly the same.

  3. #3
    d3ell is offline Novice
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    Sorry, I should of clarified further.... We are moving to an online system and the server is going. Once all files are moved over and systems are up we will be removing the server as its very old now and causing us problems. (Which is the reason we are moving to an online system)

    We will basically all have individual computers and we will all work from dropbox.

  4. #4
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    Install dropbox on each machine. then do the same to the new path on each machine.

  5. #5
    d3ell is offline Novice
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    Thanks again, but that won't solve the problem. The database is a central database that is accessed by several computers. I can only have one filepath on the database and each computer that access's the database has a different dropbox directory.

    I'm not really looking for a work around. As per my initial post I would like to either;
    A) be able to save directly to an online folder, or
    B) have the database set up so it asks the user where to save the file. The user can then save the file to a path of their choice.

    Thanks again.

  6. #6
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    Each user should have their own unique front end. Tailored to them. Its not a workaround, its recommended. They will all link to the same back end database but it will allow you to restrict access to whatever you want, and also build query's/macros whatever for the specific person to do what they need.

    I have a similar issue here where we do use a server. But some computers are mapped differently meaning they have a different file path to get to where they need. Each computer here has a version of our database. (its the same database just a different front end). so each user can do what they need, and nothing more.

    Do you currently have a split DB?

  7. #7
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    Also just to mention. You only need the full version of access to develop. All other machines should have runtime. Having multiple front ends means you can have as many users as you want on at the same time too.

  8. #8
    d3ell is offline Novice
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    To be honest, as mentioned in my first post, I'm no whizz on this! haha - I have no idea about this "front end" and "back end" data base!

    I basically, created the database using Microsoft access and then the other users use Microsoft access to open the database.

    What is a split DB (is this the front end/back end) thing!? - Is this easy(ish) to do.

    Would I then be able to specify different file paths for each machine then?

    .... Up until now I thought my DB was the bee's Knee's! - Maybe its not! hahaha

  9. #9
    CJ_London is offline VIP
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    It was some time ago since I investigated, so things may have changed since then but I'm pretty sure with dropbox, you effectively download the backend file, do your changes then upload. If this is still the case then you won't be able to have multiple users on the db at the same time. So before you commit to going the dropbox route, check out that you can do what you want.

    Just checked - Suggest you look at this link

    https://www.dropbox.com/en/help/19

    and in particular this comment - and look at the conflicted copies link as well

    What happens if two people edit a file at the same time?

    If two people both open and edit a file in a shared folder at the same time, Dropbox will save both of their changes, but in separate files. It does not try to automatically combine or merge changes. See our article on conflicted copies to learn more about how this works.

  10. #10
    orange's Avatar
    orange is offline Moderator
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    d3ell,

    Please tell us more about your proposed approach.
    What exactly does online system mean?
    Do you intend to have simulanteous users?
    Will users be doing read and write to this database?

    I agree with ajax that dropbox may not satisfy your requirements.
    Multi users will need a shared back end database if you are using Access.

    As for
    I have no idea about this "front end" and "back end" data base!
    You can use Google to search for these terms.

    This link may help.

  11. #11
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    If the folders in dropbox are quite specific then I doubt it would be an issue, but it could happen. Your database front end can be as different as you want for each version, so yes you can assign different paths.

  12. #12
    CJ_London is offline VIP
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    The issue I have is that several different people in my company use this database on several different computers, generally at different times
    if 'generally' means 'always, without exception' then dropbox may well work for the backend.
    My current database produces reports which currently save to a folder on our server.
    I don't see any issue in principle to saving reports to dropbox since they are presumably unique. May just have a problem if the report names are the same and another user has the dropbox version open at the time of saving a new report.

  13. #13
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    Just as another thought, you could program in so every file made is put into a unique folder automatically. That way there's no potential to be editing an existing folder. I don't know the ins and outs of multiple users on dropbox, but if multiple users can work on multiple folders on the same dropbox account that could work.

Please reply to this thread with any new information or opinions.

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