ACC: How to Recover a Table Deleted from a Database

• Microsoft Access versions 7.0, 97

SUMMARY

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

This article demonstrates a sample Visual Basic for Applications function that you can use to recover a table deleted from a Microsoft Access for Windows 95 and Microsoft Access 97 database under the following conditions:

  - The database has not been closed since the deletion of the table.

  - The database has not been compacted since the deletion of the table.

  - The table was deleted using the Microsoft Access user interface.

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web:

   http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/refguide/default.asp

MORE INFORMATION

The following sample function recovers the last table deleted within a Microsoft Access database. To create the sample function, follow these steps.

NOTE: These steps assume that you are creating the sample function for future use. If instead you are adding the code directly to a database in which a table has recently been deleted, skip step 1, because if you have closed Microsoft Access or the database, the deleted table is not recoverable.

1. Open your database in Microsoft Access.

2. In the Database window, click the Modules tab, and then click New.

3. Type or paste the following code in the module that you have just created:

   NOTE: In the following sample code, an underscore (_) at the end of a line is used as a line-continuation character indicates that the code continues from one line to the next. You can type lines that contain this character as one logical line or you can divide the lines of code and include the line continuation character. For additional information refer to the Microsoft Access 97 Readme File(Acread80.wri). This file is installed by default in the C:\Program Files\ Microsoft Office\Office folder.

       Function undo()
   

         Dim db As Database, strTablename As String
         Dim i As Integer, StrSqlString As String
   

         Set db = CurrentDb()
   

         For i = 0 To db.TableDefs.Count - 1
   

         If Left(db.TableDefs(i).Name, 4) = "~tmp" Then
            strTablename = db.TableDefs(i).Name
            StrSqlString = "SELECT DISTINCTROW [" & strTablename & _
              "].* INTO MyUndeletedTable FROM [" & strTablename & "];"
            DoCmd.SetWarnings False
            DoCmd.RunSQL StrSqlString
            DoCmd.SetWarnings True
            MsgBox "A table has been restored as MyUndeletedTable", _
              vbOKOnly,"Restored"
            GoTo Exit_undo
         End If
         Next i
         MsgBox "No Recoverable Tables Found", vbOKOnly, "Not Found"
   
         Exit_undo:
            Set db = Nothing
            Exit Function
         Err_undo:
            MsgBox Err.Description
            Resume Exit_undo
   
       End Function
   
   

4. On the Debug menu, click "Compile and Save All Modules" (or in Microsoft Access for Windows 95, on the Run menu click "Compile All Modules"; then on the File menu, click "Save All Modules").

5. Save the Module as RecoverTable.

   To test this function, type the following line in the Debug window, and then press ENTER:

          ?Undo()
   

REFERENCES

For more information about TableDefs, search the Help Index for "Tabledef Object."