ACC: How to Find Access Basic Error Codes

• Microsoft Access versions 1.0, 1.1, 2.0

SUMMARY

Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

The Microsoft Access manuals do not contain a listing of all the error codes and messages you can receive when you are running custom Access Basic functions. To obtain the error codes and messages, you can run a custom Access Basic function and use the Microsoft Access Help system.

MORE INFORMATION

This article assumes that you are familiar with Access Basic and with creating Microsoft Access applications using the programming tools provided with Microsoft Access. For more information on Access Basic, please refer to the "Introduction to Programming" manual in Microsoft Access version 1.x, or the "Building Applications" manual, Chapter 3, "Introducing Access Basic" in version 2.0.

There are approximately 700 error messages that can result from running Access Basic code. To print a list of the error values and descriptions to the Immediate window, add the sample function below to a module:

   Function PrintErrorStrings ()
      For i = 1 To 32766
         E$ = Error$(i)
         If E$ <> "User-defined error" And E$ <> "Reserved Error" Then
            Debug.Print i; Error$(i)
         End If
      Next i
   End Function

1. Create a new table with the following fields. Save the table as Error Codes:

         Table Name: Error Table
         -----------------------
         Field Name: Err
            Data Type: Number
            Field Size: Integer
         Field Name: Error
            Data Type: Text
            Field Size: 255
   
   

2. Create the following function in a new module.

         Function FillErrorTable()
            Dim MyDB As Database, MyTable As Recordset
            Dim i As Integer
            Dim e$
   
            Set MyDB = CurrentDb()
            Set MyTable = MyDB.OpenRecordset("Error Codes")
   
            For i = 1 To 32766
               e$ = Error$(i)
               If e$ <> "User-defined Error" And e$ <> "Reserved Error" Then
                  MyTable.AddNew
                  MyTable![Err] = i
                  MyTable![Error] = e$
                  MyTable.UPDATE
                End If
            Next i
            MyTable.Close
            MyDB.Close
         End Function
   
   

3. Type the following line in the Immediate window, and then press ENTER:

         ? FillErrorTable()
   

The Microsoft Access Help system contains descriptions of the errors. However, the error values are not in the Help system. To determine the error value, match the description to the values returned by the FillErrorTable() function.

REFERENCES

For more information about error messages, search for "error messages: reference," and then "Error Messages Reference" using the Microsoft Access Help menu.