MSA-Base Faq

Common questions and answers for those migrating from MS Access to OO.o Base.

This is a user community effort - add to the knowledge base if you can.

Please however try to keep the questions and answers general. If there is an answer regarding a feature specifc version of MSA then include the version number also.

Specifically, please only update the wiki if you have an answer for the question you are adding. ( If you may need to get back shortly with the answer don't let that stop you from getting the queston in first however - just come back before long )

For asking specific questions or for general help it would be appropriate to then ask on either the: Base Forum or on the Base users mailing list.

Can I read my Base database from MS Access?

There is no way to use the table linking mechanisim in Access to connect to a Base database.

It is possible for a Base database to update data in the Access database. At this time this will require however that the Access database be opened and locked by the Base file.

Data could also be passed back to the Access database by creating a linked CSV file in the Base database. Then linking to this CSV file to a table in the Access database.

Can I create a Switchboard in Base?

Base does not currently have a switchboard style form wizard. It is possible to achieve a very similar effect however using either of two techinques.

Is a Form in Base different from a Form in MSA?

No.

There are very real differnces between how Forms are implemented in Access and Base.

Where are the Delete / Upate queries?

Base does not currently support building delete / insert / update queries in the desinger.

equivilant actions

using the Query Designer

You can achieve the equivilant actions in the GUI using the designer and or SQL commands.

Converting my VBA modules to Base modules

What happened to me?

There is no exact duplicate to the ME psuedo variable in VBA.

In Access VBA 'me' has attributes of two seperate objects in OOoBasic: TextDocument and DataForm

The TextDocument object would be used for controlling the window size and placement on the screen for instance.

The DataForm meanwhile supports result set functions, such as First, Filter, InsertRow.

In OOoBasic the psuedo variable thisComponent normaly would be the TextDocument, while thisComponent.DrawPage.Forms(0) meanwhile would reference the first DataForm owned by the TextDocument.

Perhaps a still closer equivilant is to use the object ownership hierarchy to get to the form. For example if we had a single table form with a button, then in the macro called by the 'onClick' or as OOBase calls it the 'When initializing' event we would do this: Create a macro in a library named onButtonClick( oEv as object )

   sub onButtonClick( oEv as object )
     ' oEv is the event object passed automatially
     ' it has a property SOURCE which is the 
     ' button that initiated this call
   
     dim oForm as variant
   
     oForm = oEv.Source.Model.Parent
      ' oForm is now the virtual form objct
     
     dim oDocument as variant
     
     oDocument = thisComponent
      ' oDocument is now the textDocument displayed in
      ' the window on screen
   
   end sub

Where is findfirst?

Base does not appear to have a FindFirst function on the rowset like MS Access, what is the equivilant Base function?

MSAccess VBA example:

Say there is a VB combo box which lists all the prospects in the database and allows the user to select a particular prospect and then have the form automatically go to that person's data record.

 Private Sub Find_Combo_AfterUpdate()
 Dim strCriteria As String
 
 strCriteria = "[Prospect_ID] =" & Me.Find_Combo
 
 Me.recordsetclone.FindFirst (strCriteria)
 If me.recordsetclone.NoMatch Then
     MsgBox "No entry found"
 Else
     Form_F_Prospects.Bookmark = me.recordsetclone.Bookmark
 End If
 
 End Sub