naming question

[Access Virgin]

I was recently told by a SQL Server developer that you should never use a _ (under score) when naming tables, stored procedures etc, for example, tbl_Project_Details as SQL has issues with the _.

Would this be an issue with MS Access? I have a fairly large database, just over 8M in size, which is already split and linked to a back end with very little data, 1M in size. As alot of my forms are repetitive for similar area of the project I have been using _ in my table, query, form and report names. When opeing forms and running reports the system seems to run rather slow and I was wondering if it was to do with my naming conventions.

Anyone able to shed a little light on this???

 

[Mile-O]

THe underscore is not advised. In MS Access you can surround your table and field names with square brackets in SQL.

i.e.

SELECT [My_Table].[My_Field]
FROM [My_Table]
WHERE [My_Table].[Other_Field] = True
ORDER BY [My_Table].[My_Field];

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Naming conventions, as long as you don't have interminably long names, will not affect the speed of opening a database.

I have a fairly large database, just over 8M in size, which is already split and linked to a back end with very little data, 1M in size.

If you are really slow, like, minutes, your problem is either lots of uncompiled code, lots of complex references in your code, or lots of forms with embedded images that should have been linked instead.

SQL in general doesn't have issues with "_". Specific implementations of SQL have BIG issues with "_". You should always determine the "alphabet" of your SQL implementation before designing names.

Access SQL handles "_" ok, but since it is a shifted character, it is just a pain in the toches to type. Access doesn't distinguish between upper and lower case for most names, so the SHIFT key is normally immaterial. And that makes typing easier even if you ARE a touch-typist.

The one you REALLY want to watch out for is a space embedded in the name, for which you CANNOT escape using the brackets. And it is quite common for SQL implementations to not like spaces embedded in names. I won't say unequivocally 100% of all SQLs dislike spaces in names. But all the ones I have seen don't like spaces.