XL97: Errors Appear When Using an ODBC Text Data Source (DSN)

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Office 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Query 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you work with a file data source name (DSN) that uses a text Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) driver, either of the following symptoms occur:

• When you attempt to add a table, the following error message appears

        Can't access table <name>
  

  where <name> is the name of the database.

• When you create a PivotTable, one of the following error messages appear:

      - Problems obtaining data
  

        -or-
  

      - PivotTable is not valid
  

CAUSE

Can't Access Table

This error message appears when the following conditions are true:

• You attempt to add a table to a query.

  -and-

• That text file is open in another Office program.

Problems Obtaining Data or PivotTable Is Not Valid

These error messages appear when you attempt to create a server-based page field in a PivotTable when the source data is from an external text file.

WORKAROUND

Can't Access Table

To work around this problem, close the text file in the other program before you add it to the query.

Problems Obtaining Data or PivotTable Is Not Valid

When you use a File DSN that uses a text ODBC driver, you cannot create a server-based page field. Update the PivotTable to reset the PivotTable field settings.

If you want to use a server-based page field in a PivotTable, import the text database into another program, for example, Microsoft Access. For more information about importing data into Microsoft Access, refer to Microsoft Access Help.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

MORE INFORMATION

Unlike other types of ODBC drivers, the Text ODBC driver uses file locking instead of record locking. This means that records are not available to more than one program at a time. When you open the text file in one program, and then attempt to open the same file in another program, it is an access violation. You cannot use any driver that uses file locking instead of record locking to create a PivotTable with server-based page fields. Other ODBC drivers do not exhibit this problem.

For additional information on creating DSNs, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   Article-ID: Q165866
   TITLE     : XL97: How to Use File DSNs and DSN-less Connections

   Article-ID: Q159557
   TITLE     : XL97: Using System, User, and File Data Sources