ACC2: TimerInterval Property Limited to 65,535 Milliseconds

• Microsoft Access version 2.0

SYMPTOMS

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

In Microsoft Access version 1.x or 2.0, setting a form's TimerInterval property to a value greater than 65,535 milliseconds (about 1 minute, 5 seconds) generates the following error message:

   Invalid setting for TimerInterval property; correct values are from
   0 to 65,535 milliseconds.

RESOLUTION

If you need to run code in intervals greater than 1 minute, set the TimerInterval property to 60,000 to execute the Timer event in intervals of 1 minute. In the Timer event, increment a static counter variable to count the number of minutes expired. When the counter reaches the interval you want to use, reset the counter and run the code.

STATUS

This behavior no longer occurs in Microsoft Access version 7.0.

MORE INFORMATION

The following example demonstrates how to create a form that will display a message box every 5 minutes:

1. Create a new, blank form. Set the following property for the form:

         TimerInterval: 60000
   

2. Set the form's OnTimer property to the following event procedure:

         Sub Form_Timer ()
            Const MAXMINUTES = 5
            Static iCount As Integer
            iCount = iCount + 1
            If iCount >= MAXMINUTES Then
               iCount = 0
               MsgBox "5 minutes expired"
            End If
         End Sub
   
   

3. View the form in Form view.

REFERENCES

For information about creating event procedures, search for "event procedures," and then "Creating an Event Procedure" using the Microsoft Access Help menu.

For more information about the TimerInterval property, search for "TimerInterval," and then "TimerInterval Property" using the Microsoft Access Help menu.