New Forum User W/ A Few Questions

[tryingtoquery]

I am new everyone! I am thankful to be here and i have already learned a lot.

My first question is which query function to use (maketable, updatetable, or append) to create a local table that will store all columns of data from a linked ODBC source? The table that i am trying to copy from the ODBC contains fields that are automatically deleted after 72 hours and i want to create a local table that will store data for 60 days and then delete data that is older than 60 days. I will be creating a macro attached to a button on my main form that I will run each day so that the local table can be updated. the macro will contain a "delete" query that will delete all fields that are older than 60 days.

2nd question.. Does anyone on here know how i can deploy a batch file that will copy the main database file to the user's desktop from a shared local network drive? I am sort of trying to create an "update-able" database in a sense. The .bat file will be an "installdb.bat" and i would like to have a .txt file that the batch file checks to see if it differs. If the txt file differs then the install.bat file would then copy the main database to the desktop again, overwriting the old file.

In this method above the .txt file would only be changed when a major change to the main database file has been made by the database admin. The database admin would then let all of the DB users know to run the installed.bat file again.

Thank you for any help that you can provide.

[ranman256]

Run a make table query to 'copy' the ODBC table to the local table.

2. Normally you don't copy db to local users. Users share the network database as a central lookup. You don't delete tables.
But you can write delete macros/code to remove tables.

[Welshgasman]

Firstly I hope your DB is split?
I have used Bob Larsen's Front End Updater in a few of my DBs, but some experts recommend just having a shortcut that copies the FE from the distribution folder to the users PC and run it each time?

As ranman256 says, just run the query once to get the structure (just had a deja vu, I'm sure someone asked this before? )

If you are going to be appending and deleting daily, you will need to compact and repair regularly as well.

[tryingtoquery]

Yes. I have already created the maketable query. Now i need to either use update, or append to keep storing the data in the table over and over. Was going to create a macro to run whichever query would work best. The reason i need to do this over and over is because the ODBC tables generally delete data that is older than 72 hours. I want to store that data for a rolling 60 day period.

[Welshgasman]

What query you run would depend on whether the linked data is also updated or just appended I would have thought?

[orange]

TTQ,
Suggest you give an example or 2 of what changes when the ODBC table gets changed. What exactly do you want to save locally? How often do the records change?

[CJ_London]

Does anyone on here know how i can deploy a batch file that will copy the main database file to the user's desktop from a shared local network drive?

I note this has not been answered, but detail is sketchy to provide an answer and not clear what you mean by 'main database'. In a 'normal' setup the front end (forms/code/queries/reports) would reside in the users machine whilst the back end (tables only) would reside on the server. It doesn't sound like this is what you are doing, but if it was, you would have some code in the front end to do the necessary work, no need for a batch file.