ACC97: Can't View Expressions in Forms Exported to IDC or ASP
ID: Q165193
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The information in this article applies to:
SYMPTOMS
Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.
If you create an HTX/IDC or ASP file from a form in Microsoft Access 97,
when you open it in your Web browser you see empty fields in your IDC
datasheet, or you see #Expression in one or more fields of your ASP form.
CAUSE
Microsoft Access does not preserve expressions on forms in HTX/IDC or ASP
format.
RESOLUTION
Do not use expressions in a form control's ControlSource property on any
form you want to view in HTX/IDC or ASP format.
Instead, try to create a query that contains all of your expressions, base
your form on that query, and then bind the controls on your form to the
expressions in your query. Using this technique, your expressions will
appear in the HTX/IDC or ASP file that you create. A disadvantage of using
this method is that your expressions appear in text boxes on an ASP form,
which makes them appear to be editable; however, any changes you make to
an expression field on an ASP form will be dropped as soon as you commit
and refresh the record.
Also, Microsoft Access 97 does output expressions to files in HTML format.
If you can use a static HTML format instead of the dynamic HTX/IDC or ASP
file formats, consider saving your form as an HTML file as a workaround
that will preserve the form's expressions.
MORE INFORMATION
Steps to Reproduce Behavior
- Start Microsoft Access and open the sample database Northwind.mdb.
- Open the Employees (page break) form in Design view.
- Note that the EmployeeName control in the Form Header section has
its ControlSource property set to the following expression:
=[FirstName] & " " & [LastName]
- Switch the form to Form view and note that the employee's full name
appears above the photograph in the Form Header for each record.
- On the File menu, click Save As/Export.
- In the Save As dialog box, point "To an External File or Database," and
then click OK.
- In the "Save Form 'Employees (page break)' In" dialog box, select
"Microsoft Active Server Pages (*.asp)" in the Save As Type box. In the
Save In box, select a folder on your Web server where you have Execute
permissions, and then click Export.
- In the "Microsoft Active Server Pages Output Options" dialog box, type
the name of a System DSN on your Web server that points to the
Northwind sample database in the Data Source Name box; type the uniform
resource locator (URL) for the location on your Web server where you
are saving the file in the Server URL box, for example
http://<servername>/scripts, and then click OK.
- Start Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 and type the URL to the Employees
(page break).asp file in the Address box. For example:
http://<servername>/scripts/Employees (page break).asp
When the form appears, note that the EmployeeName control displays
#Expression instead of the full name of the employee.
Additional query words:
blank empty
Keywords : kbinterop IntAsp
Version : 97
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbprb