"Linked" table problem

[funderburgh]

I have a nice application built with several tables related to each other. This is an application with a split database which resides on a server and an installable application that I put on individual workstations.

I encounter a problem when I want to update a table format, say add a new field or a validation rule. I get a message that I cannot modify a linked table. Do I have a "linked" table? It seems incorrect that I could not add a field (not, say remove a related field) or change a validation rule.

Can someone help me figure out what I am missing here. Any help is appreciated.

 

[EraserveAP]

I have never tried to get around this, but it has always been my experience that Access will not let you add/remove fields from linked tables.
For me it was simply quicker and easier to just change the field in the source table and update the linked table. I did not have a reason to spend the time on it to see if it was possible.
Maybe someone has a better method

 

[funderburgh]

But here is the quandry - what is the "source table"? I have table A with a primary key, like client number and a related table B with client number. I use the relationship to format forms or reports, but the data on table B does not come from A. How does it effect the relationship for me to put a validation rule on some unrelated field of table B, it has no interaction with the relationship? What is "linked"? Access seems so smart it just seems like I am missing something here. Surely I am not the first person to develop an application and then want to go back and add a field. Removing all of the relationships and trying to set them back up seems like a lot of unrelated work to go through to put on a vaildation rule. What am I missing?

 

[namliam]

You can only change tables in the DB they reside in. Linked tables cannot be changed in the " linking DB ".

Find your source DB and alter the Tables there.

 

[EraserveAP]

Generally Linked tables take on the name of the source table, provided you or whoever did not change it.
You should be able to track down the source database by rt clicking on the linked table and Click the "Linked Table Manager". From there you should be able to view the path to the source DB.
Even if the table name is changed you should be able to figure it out by comparing field names and number of records.

 

[funderburgh]

Thanks to everyone. My confusion is that I do not have a table that is the source of data for another table. I only have tables with distinct data that are related. I don't know where to go to change the "source" table - my data is only in the table that pertains to its use.

 

[Banana]

First, can you verify that those are indeed linked; by going to database windows and selecting tables tab, then seeing if you see any tiny blue arrows pointing to the table icon?

If so, it means that your tables came from a different database, and therefore if that was changed, the table is out of date. It has nothing to do with how relationships work.

HTH.

 

[FoFa]

Funderburgh: Sounds like (and I may be wrong) you are confusing a Linked table with a Related table. Linked tables mean the physical data resides somewhere other than the current access MDB file you are in. Related tables means they are joined by some data relationship somehow. So what you are trying to do is update a tables structure or properties (not data) in one Access MDB file that resides in a different MDB file. It does not allow that.

 

[funderburgh]

Thanks for your help. No my confusion turns out to be that a SPLIT table is treated as a LINKED table. My table structure does not contain data or links to other databases, but I split it to reside on a server. This has had the same effect as linking. Reading the manual on linking or importing and spliting did not connect the results to me, so when I kept getting the "linked" error message I didn't put it together. I have no "source" table in the linked sense so it threw me off. Now I understand that splitting is viewed the same by the os. Thanks.

 

[Banana]

Just to be clear, you don't split a table. You split a database, which moves the tables off to a back-end, which it then becomes a linked table.

 

[funderburgh]

I'm really greatful for the coaching. Thanks a million.

John