Combo Wizard (2002)

[DavidHorning]

I have a client who is using Access 2002. I still use 2000. Every time I've tried to do design on site and added a combo box, the wizard fails to run. I just get a blank combo box. I had them ask their vendor to re-install the software and make sure to install all wizards. It didn't help. Is there something new in 2002 I don't know about that requires an additional step to activate the combo box wizard?

[WendellB]

Congrats on finding your way to Woody's Lounge - it currently shows you as the most recent person to join the Lounge. Anyhow, to answer your question, not that I know of. I've been using 2002 for about 18 months and haven't encountered problems with the combo box wizard. Is it possible that all wizards are turned off? (There are some other issues when doing development on a 2002 installation that subsequently needs to be run on a 2000 version PC - but that one isn't one of them. Doing development in 2000 and then migrating it to 2002 PCs is the preferred method as long as some people are running 2000 and others 2002.)

[DavidHorning]

Thanks for the kind response and welcome. Most appreciated. This is a situation where I am doing development for a client at a remote site. Occassionally I visit the site, but when I do I can't get the combo wizard to work. You mention the wizards being turned off. I've never seen this. Can you give me guidance on where this would be and how to check? Also, on the issue of moving between versions. Can I freely move back and forth between their 2002 and my 2000 without problems? I have a number of people using 97 and I've run into more and more errors when converting back and forth between 97 and 2000. It's gotten bad enough to stop doing that. Luckily most of these people have DSL so I can actually do the design directly in their systems remotely using their 97. Unfortunately the guy with the 2002 problem only has dial up. You can do remote design via modem, but I wouldn't recommend it. Thanks again.

[WendellB]

The way wizards get turned off is by clicking a button on the design toolbar where you click the button to build a combo box - that may be a bit of a long shot, but is about the only way wizards can normally be turned off. If that's not it, it probably is an installation problem with Office XP.

As to moving back and forth between versions, that can be a serious challenge. If you are really going to do that and do development in 2000 or 2002, then I would strongly recommend that you keep your master file in Access97 format, and upgrade to 2000/2002 just long enough to make design changes, then take it back to 97 and test to make sure it still works in 97. There are a number of things you can do in 2000 or especially in 2002 that will break in 97 as features are not supported. As to the guy using 2002, I would do all development in 2000 and email front-ends back and forth (presuming your database is split. If the file gets too big, simply change the form or report, export it to a small database, zip it and email it. Hope this helps.