ACC97: "About MDE Files" Help Topic Incorrect in MS Access 97

ID: Q162451

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Access 97

SYMPTOMS

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

The "About MDE files" Help Topic contains the following paragraph:

If your database contains Visual Basic code, saving your database as an MDE file compiles all modules, removes all editable source code, and compacts the destination database. Your Visual Basic code will continue to run, but it cannot be viewed or edited, and the size of your database will be reduced due to the removal of the code. Additionally, memory usage is optimized, which will improve performance.

The last sentence in this paragraph is incorrect. MDEs are no faster than the equivalent, fully compiled and compacted, MDBs. Visual Basic for Applications uses the same memory optimizations for both; that is, source code is not loaded if the project is compiled. MDEs can never decompile like MDBs, which makes them run consistently at the same speed. MDBs can decompile when changes are made to the underlying Visual Basic code, which make them appear to run more slowly.

Keywords : kbdta
Version : 97
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type :