Forum: Ruby-core [Bug #2947] win32ole & MS Access 2007

Bug #2947: win32ole & MS Access 2007
http://redmine.ruby-lang.org/issues/show/2947

Author: Philippe Lang
Status: Open, Priority: Normal
Target version: Ruby 1.8.6
ruby -v: ruby 1.8.6 (2010-02-04 patchlevel 398) [i386-mingw32] or ruby 
1.8.6 (2007-09-24 patchlevel 111) [i386-mswin32]

Hi,

When opening a MS Access database with ruby code like

----------------------------------------------
require 'win32ole'
access = WIN32OLE.new('Access.Application')
database = File.expand_path('db2000.mdb')
access.OpenCurrentDatabase(database, false)
access.DoCmd.OpenReport("rptTest")
access.Visible = true
----------------------------------------------

... database is opened read-write with MS Access 2000/2003, and 
***read-only*** with MS Access 2007.

I have made tests under Window 7 with ruby 1.8.6 patchlevel 111 and 
patchlevel 398.

Database format is not an issue: the same problem happens with a 
database in 2000 (mdb) or 2007 (accdb) format.

I'm not sure if that's a ruby bug or a MS Access limitation, but vbs 
code like

----------------------------------------------
Set objAcc = WScript.CreateObject("Access.Application")
strDBName = "C:\Users\Philippe Lang\Desktop\db2000.mdb"
objAcc.OpenCurrentDatabase strDBName
objAcc.run "get_document_lines_store", "1234", "L", "1"
objAcc.DoCmd.OpenReport "rptTest", 2, "", ""
objAcc.Visible = true
----------------------------------------------

... opens the database read-write, whatever version of MS Access we use.

Issue #2947 has been updated by Philippe Lang.


Problem found: until Access 2007, path to the database can be specified 
with slashes or backslashes. It works in both situations. Since Access 
2007, slashes yield to a read-only database, and backslashed a 
read-write database. Strange, but true!

Since expand_path expands the path of a file with slashes, code had to 
be slightly changed in order to work with Access 2007:

----------------------------------------------
require 'win32ole'
access = WIN32OLE.new('Access.Application')
database = File.expand_path('db2000.mdb').gsub(/\//, '\\')
access.OpenCurrentDatabase(database, false)
access.DoCmd.OpenReport("rptTest")
access.Visible = true
----------------------------------------------

Note that the vbs code has the same symptoms: if backslashes are 
replaced with slashes, database is opened read-only.

----------------------------------------------
Set objAcc = WScript.CreateObject("Access.Application")
strDBName = "C:/Users/Philippe Lang/Desktop/db2000.mdb"
objAcc.OpenCurrentDatabase strDBName
objAcc.run "get_document_lines_store", "1234", "L", "1"
objAcc.DoCmd.OpenReport "rptTest", 2, "", ""
objAcc.Visible = true
----------------------------------------------

This is the case for native Access 2007 databases, and Access 2000 
database in "compatibility mode" under Access 2007.

Hope it can help anyone. Case can be closed.
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http://redmine.ruby-lang.org/issues/show/2947