Ms Access Runtime 2002 “OpenForm action was cancelled” error on some workstations

Question

Our client uses MS Access application in multiuser environment on 500+ workstations. The application is upgraded using custom autoupdate mechanism that delivers .mde files to end users, who are using Access Runtime 2002. I compile the application with MS Access 2002 (10.6501.6626) SP3.

Somtimes after new release we get “OpenForm action was cancelled” error or random workstations (usually one or two) in random forms of the application. New compilation to .mde file and another update solves it.

Do you have any idea on the cause of this error?

Answer 1

One of the absolutely maddening aspects of Access is all the versioning issues that you encounter. I work for a large insurance company with a very strict handle on hardware/software and what the users can and can't upgrade, and any project larger than 50 users was guaranteed to have issues on a handful of machines. As such, we eventually ported completely to Visual Studio.net in an effort to avoid the issues.

You can start by looking at the specific version number of all the machines that are misbehaving. You may find some correlation between the computers that are experiencing errors.

Inside the code, make sure all of your subs/functions have error trapping. It's always a good idea to write your code with this framework:

Private Sub SomeName_Click()
On Error GoTo Err_SomeName_Click

   ...Do some stuff here...

Exit_SomeName_Click:
    Exit Sub

Err_SomeName_Click:
    MsgBox Err.Description
    Resume Exit_SomeName_Click

End Sub

Instead of just producing a messagebox, you can trap for specific errors and handle them appropriately.

More often than not, there is some small amount of corruption in the build. Access can be very tempermental at times. What many people forget is that Access was/is not really designed for massive database rollouts. Yes, it can do them, but a VS front-end coupled with a SQL Server back-end is much more stable. This is why Access comes with Office, while VS and SQL Server cost more.