What's been changed

[ryetee]

I have taken over the releasing of a test version Access database. The problem I have is there is no documentation whatsoever on what tables have been changed. Is there an easy way to work this out. I'm using last updated date but because it's been a while to get this released it's grouping everything to "older".

 

[The_Doc_Man]

The Access program was released as a small-business solution when the Windows environment was primitive. The goal was to give you tools to do what you needed on your own, more or less. There are no documentation tools built-in on Access changes. You have to "roll your own" to have any kind of history. This is true whether you are seeking structural history or content history.

For content history, you can look up "Auditing" on this forum. For structural history, you will have to include other objects in your auditing or will have to create a "journal" of structural mods. So far as I recall, there is no built-in auditing of any object including records and schemas.

 

[CJ_London]

Perhaps you have development backups you can compare with?

 

[tvanstiphout]

You can write code like below (and more for each container) to get Create and Modify dates, but these are not super reliable. They are sometimes updated even when you think you didn't change anything.
Dim ao As AccessObject
For Each ao In CurrentProject.AllForms
Debug.Print ao.Name, ao.DateCreated, ao.DateModified
Next ao

 

[RonPaii]

You can implement version control for Access. It then becomes trivial using the built-in compare functions.

I am using the following
1) Joyfullservice to export objects from Access to text files. https://github.com/joyfullservice/msaccess-vcs-addin
2) Git for Windows. linked to Git Hub. https://gitforwindows.org/
3) TortoiseGit to for GUI interface in Windows Explorer. https://tortoisegit.org/download/

 

[GPGeorge]

I have taken over the releasing of a test version Access database. The problem I have is there is no documentation whatsoever on what tables have been changed. Is there an easy way to work this out. I'm using last updated date but because it's been a while to get this released it's grouping everything to "older".

There is a commercial application that is really good at comparing accdb versions. https://kellermansoftware.com/products/accessdiff
When I was active as a consultant, taking over "rescue" projects, I found it well worth the cost of a license.

 

[Isaac]

I have taken over the releasing of a test version Access database. The problem I have is there is no documentation whatsoever on what tables have been changed. Is there an easy way to work this out. I'm using last updated date but because it's been a while to get this released it's grouping everything to "older".

do you mean data changing or design db changing?

 

[ryetee]

Perhaps you have development backups you can compare with?

How do you compare. Manually?

 

[ryetee]

You can implement version control for Access. It then becomes trivial using the built-in compare functions.

I am using the following
1) Joyfullservice to export objects from Access to text files. https://github.com/joyfullservice/msaccess-vcs-addin
2) Git for Windows. linked to Git Hub. https://gitforwindows.org/
3) TortoiseGit to for GUI interface in Windows Explorer. https://tortoisegit.org/download/

Thanks I'll take alook

 

[ryetee]

do you mean data changing or design db changing?

Design

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Tracking design changes will generally require you to first take a very formalized approach on development, and second will probably require you to find something called a "configuration management" tool. The one I used with the Navy was not well suited to tracking Access projects; it was more of a mainframe tracker. However, there are tools available that can reach in and track configurations for you. It has been so long since I dealt with any of them, and my involvement was so limited, that I don't remember the details. But Access-project tools exist.

 

[Isaac]

Design

Usually the Windows file explorer column that shows owner is the one who most recently changed it in my experience