Need a method to slow execution down

[Minty]

Am I missing something here, but isn't that code simply going to print the same pdf 4 times with a different file name?

strCurFloor = 100 + I

I'm guessing this should be a criteria used somewhere to reopen the form with different data, but that isn't happening.
I would have thought you needed (air code obviously)

docmd.openform .... , Criteria
docmd.outputTo ...
docmd.close ac form ...



This is how you would loop through a report on the same basis, and I don't think a form being printed would be any different.

[Micron]

I wouldn't do that yet (I mean use that as a solution) but out of curiosity is OK. GB, have you stepped through that code to
a) see which pass it is that is raising the error as you have a loop there.
b) see if it still fails when stepping through

Why would you declare an integer and pass its value to a string? You're asking for trouble doing that sort of thing. That's what type conversion functions are for.

[orange]

@Minty

I don't think so.

The loop has 4 iterations. GB has North and South towers, and each has 4 floors. Output has Floor & I - so I think the logic seems ok. We'll have to see what resolves the error condition.

[Welshgasman]

@Minty

I don't think so.

The loop has 4 iterations. GB has North and South towers, and each has 4 floors. Output has Floor & I - so I think the logic seems ok. We'll have to see what resolves the error condition.

But the form remains the same? even for north and south?

[orange]

I guess we need to see form recordsources etc.

[GraeagleBill]

With your suggestion, the first OutputTo executed normally as it has been. In the error handler, I recorded error activity in the IW noting the error and "current strErrMsg". The error occurred once again and then Access just seemed to "park".

A couple of months ago, I had problems with OutputTo being "unavailable", only the issue pertained to reports. The solution turned out to be moving the code to a class module, open acHidden, OutputTo and then close. It might be a "shotgun approach", but I'll try that in the next hour or so.

To Orange's comment, from another point in the UI the user can selectively create the pdf files one at a time without any errors, so it is only when I attempt to "rapid fire" all 8 floors that I hit the current OP.

[Micron]

@Minty - the variable is probably global. I think GB likes to keep us in the dark a bit, just to see how sharp we can be.
I would open it filtered or use OpenArgs from that code as you say. I can't decide which would be most scary - passing numbers to string variables or using a global this way. If they're not string variables, then the naming convention is misleading.

[orange]

I agree that we may not be aware of some details. Micron may be onto things with a filter or openargs...
I'm not sure how he is getting the floor values for his individual pdf's.
My simple mockup alters the where clause. Each output is quite small (32Kb). I get 4 north and 4 south, but I'm changing the input for the form.

Sub chkiter()
    Dim i As Integer
    For i = 0 To 3
        DoCmd.OpenForm "animal", acNormal, , "animalid =" & i
        DoCmd.OutputTo acOutputForm, "animal", acFormatPDF, "c:\users\jp\documents\North" & i & ".pdf"
        DoCmd.OpenForm "animal", acNormal, , "animalid =" & i + 4
        DoCmd.OutputTo acOutputForm, "animal", acFormatPDF, "c:\users\jp\documents\South" & i & ".pdf"
    Next i
    DoCmd.Close acForm, "animal"
End Sub

[GraeagleBill]

Wow! Talk about obscure!
First, to Micron's comment. Yes, it would have removed question had I commented that strCurFloor was global. It was necessary because the normal use of the two forms have the floor numbers passed in OpenArgs. When the forms open only for purposes of pdf creation, I add 100 to the floor number and the Open code segment (below) takes care of distinguishing the two modes of operation.

As for the data type, old habits die hard. I'm so used to other languages where conversions are automatic given the context of the statements. As you'll see in the final code, I'm trying to correct the error of my ways

If IsNull(Me.OpenArgs) Then
    strfloor = strCurFloor
Else
    strfloor = Me.OpenArgs
End If


If strfloor > 100 Then
    strfloor = strfloor - 100
    bolPDF = True
    Me.Form.Visible = False
End If

So, what turned out to be thought as everything else, it was the "frmSouthTower" that needed the same code segment that had been included in the Open event of the "frmNorthTower", this discovery of course, makes me the dummy with this OP. (See code above)

The successful code is as follows. (Note no need for the Pause)

Private Sub cmdPDFs_Click()
'*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
'  Give UI ability to bulk refresh the floor layouts
'*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
Dim strShell As String
Dim ShellRet As Variant
Dim I As Integer
Dim strErrMsg As String


On Error GoTo Err_Handler


For I = 1 To 4
    strCurFloor = CStr(100 + I)
    strfloor = CStr(I)
    
    strErrMsg = "create pdf North floor layouts: "
    DoCmd.OutputTo acOutputForm, "frmNorthTower", acFormatPDF, "c:\Revel\RDS\FloorPDFs\North" & strfloor & ".pdf"
    DoCmd.Close acForm, "frmNorthTower"
    
    strErrMsg = "create pdf South floor layouts: "
    DoCmd.OutputTo acOutputForm, "frmSouthTower", acFormatPDF, "c:\Revel\RDS\FloorPDFs\South" & strfloor & ".pdf"
    DoCmd.Close acForm, "frmSouthTower"
Next I


strShell = "c:\Windows\Explorer.exe " & "c:\Revel\RDS\FloorPDFs\"
ShellRet = Shell(strShell, 3)


DoCmd.Close


Exit_Handler:
   Exit Sub
Err_Handler:
   MsgBox "Error " & Err.Number & " in attempting to " & strErrMsg & Err.description
   Resume Exit_Handler
End Sub

[Welshgasman]

Now the question might be, why not just FormTower and a method of selecting n,s,e or w ?

[GraeagleBill]

Fair question. For your viewing pleasure, I've included below reduced images of the two towers. Every distinct element you see in the image, other than the room border lines, is a detectable control. The difference between the two towers would make a single form an absolute nightmare to create plus tons of code to position and toggle visibility of the elements as one goes from one tower to the other, so I took the easy way out.

[Welshgasman]

Very nice