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Product Summary
Total Access Inspector 2000 is the only product specifically designed to detect Year 2000 issues in Access databases. It is based on the extensive knowledge and experience FMS has gained from analyzing Access databases and researching Year 2000 issues in Access and Office.
This is a summary of what Total Access Inspector 2000 does for you:
- A comprehensive analysis of all your database objects
- Detection of High Risk Issues: Definite Year 2000 problems that need to be fixed
- Detection of Moderate Risk Issues: Explicit and potential use of dates (may or may not be problems)
- Detection of Unknown Risk Issues: External file references (e.g. DLLs, ActiveX controls, VBA libraries, import files, SendKeys, etc.). These may or may not involve dates, but need to be verified.
- Executive Summary Reports provide an overview of the Y2K compliance effort required
- Data Analysis of every field to find date data in non-date time fields
- Field Cross-Reference to find where fields are used (useful after you identify date related fields)
- Form Control Analysis to quickly verify every control has the correct date settings for Format, Input Mask, Validation Rule and Validation Text
- Macro and Module Code Printouts for detailed analysis
- 50 output reports
- Detailed user manual and on-line help system suggesting ways to resolve Year 2000 problems
Total Access Inspector 2000 does not attempt to fix your database. No automated tool can do that (for instance, how can it automatically widen form and report controls to show four-digit years on handle overlap and alignment issues?). Much of Year 2000 compliance efforts is geared toward finding "a needle in a haystack". You may use dates extensively, but only a few areas cause problems. There is no shortcut. You need to examine every use of dates and verify they are used correctly.
NOTE: No program can guarantee that every Year 2000 problems can be detected. Only you can test and verify that dates are properly used throughout your application. Total Access Inspector 2000 helps you find Year 2000 and date related issues so you can simplify your Year 2000 compliance efforts.
Problems with Access and the Year 2000
Year 2000 is a very serious issue for Access developers. There are many issues that affect you. Some are due to Access's default behavior, but many are due to the way your database is designed. If you didn't take Year 2000 into consideration, you may have problems. If you are still not convinced, consider some of these common situations:
Problem: Dates
displayed with two-digit years make century assumptions
If you view, enter, edit, print, or import/export dates with two digit years, an
assumption is made for the century. Do you know what the assumptions are? How do you
handle dates that should not use the assumptions? Do you know what happens in 2000? Do you
know how users and Microsoft can modify the assumptions? Do your users even know if they
are using Access much less which version and the corresponding rules?
Do your reports that show dates with two-digit years camoflague dates with incorrect centuries? How can you tell? Will the users of your reports know the century assumptions of the dates? How will they know what program and version generated the report?
The only solution is four-digit years everywhere dates are used!
Problem: Enter the
same date in Access 2.0, 95 and 97, and get three different dates
Each Access version has its own rules for guessing to which century a two-digit
year belongs. Since most date entries are two-digit years, you can never be sure what gets
stored in the table. Do your users know the rules that apply? Do you have multi-user
shared databases? Combine multiple versions of Access on a network and incorrect century
data is highly likely. You must use four-digit years everywhere!
Problem: Setting
the Windows Control Panel does not solve the Year 2000 problem
Many developers think the Year 2000 problem is solved by modifying the Windows
Control Panel setting for Short Date to show four digit years. Unfortunately, many parts
of Access do not respect this setting (e.g. Medium Date settings), and almost all custom
macro and module logic ignores it. Additionally, users can reset this at any time. The
result: Two-digit years are used regardless of this Control Panel setting. You can't rely
on this!
Problem: Access
Import/Export routines do not handle centuries correctly
Does your application import or export data to/from other data sources? If so,
you may be surprised when incorrect centuries result. The Access TransferText and
Export/Import commands contains serious Year 2000 problems. By default, century
information is ignored!
Problem: External
date data
Dates may be used by or come from other sources. Are you sharing data with Excel?
Do you use DLLs or ActiveX controls? Are you calling code from a VBA Library? Are you
using SendKeys with the Clipboard? Who knows what happens if you use the clipboard to
transfer dates with two-digit years from one application to another?
Problem: Module
code does not handle dates and centuries correctly
If your module code manipulates dates, are you sure it is handling century
information correctly? Do you know everywhere you are referencing dates and date
functions? Did you know the CDate and CVDate functions are influenced by the century
assumptions? Remember, not all Year 2000 issues involve date fields. For instance, credit
card expiration dates use 2-digit years and cannot be compared to the current 2-digit year
for validation.
Problem: Forcing
data entry of four-digit years
To avoid Year 2000 conflicts, all dates should be entered with four-digit years.
Do all your date fields and controls have Input Masks to require this? Do you have Input
Masks that only allow entry of two-digit years? If so, how can users enter dates outside
the two-digit year window? Do you have validation rules to make sure dates are entered in
the correct century?
Problem: Date
controls not wide enough to show 4-digit years after 1999
Are you sure your controls are ready for 2000? Are they wide enough to display
all four digits? Will date fields on your forms and reports truncate and only show
"20"? Will dates on reports word-wrap? You need to make sure that you can not
only enter and see 4-digit years, but also display them properly. Total Access Inspector
2000 calculates the required widths based on the date format, font, point size, and style,
and lets you know if they are not wide enough!
Problem: Date/Time
fields used in query joins and relationships can cause data loss
If you are linking on date fields in relationships or queries, improper entry of
dates may result in lost data or incorrect results. If your relationships have cascading
updates or deletes the mistake can be magnified significantly. For queries, you may miss
or retrieve the wrong records. Explicit dates or date expressions used in query criteria
may also cause problems.
Problem: Date Data
in non-Date/Time fields
Does your database store date data in text or numeric fields? Does it import
dates from text files containing dates in MMDDYY format? Does it contain partial date
fields like month/year (e.g credit card or subscription expiration dates)? Do you have
year fields such as Fiscal Year or Graduation Class? All of these have Year 2000
implications.
Do you have key fields containing year information such as fiscal year? Many applications use that in Purchase Order numbers (e.g. 98-XYZ..). That may work and even work with 00 for 2000, but are there code, queries, and reports that retrieve data based on those values? For instance, retrieving data from last year based on this year minus one? If so, that won't work when the year becomes 00.
Problem: Detecting
bad date data
How do you know if dates in your tables don't already have bad data? The Data
Analysis report in Total Access Inspector 2000 quickly reveals the minimum and maximum
value of each field so you can verify they are correct on an on-going basis.
Open your database and run Total Access Inspector 2000 from the Add-ins Menu. The analysis starts with a step-by-step Wizard that lets you pick the objects and issues to detect.
When the analysis is completed, you can view the results or reports to understand and fix the detected issues. Reports can be filtered by object and issue type.
NOTE: Total Access Inspector 2000 does not modify your database. The manual and on-line help system will help you examine its findings and determine how to implement fixes. If you need assistance fixing your database, call for our consulting services.
Look at all the things Total Access Inspector 2000 detects to simplify your work:
| System Analysis | |
| • | Access version's two-digit year presumptions |
| • | Window's date format settings |
| Database
References to External Objects Know all the external objects your database is using: |
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| • | Linked/attached databases |
| • | ActiveX/OCX usage |
| • | DLL references via Declare Statements |
| • | Library references |
| • | Files that are imported or exported |
| Table
Structure Analysis Understand your tables and their fields: |
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| • | Overview of each table, field, and data type |
| • | List every Date/Time field with verification of field InputMask and Format settings for Year 2000 |
| • | Flag date related fields based on their field names |
| Data
Analysis Field analysis determines the minimum, maximum, and average of each field so you can verify and detect: |
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| • | Bad date data such as dates in the early 1900s |
| • | Potential Date Data in Numeric Fields (Year, Month, Day) |
| • | Potential Date Data in Text Fields (e.g. imported text YYMMDD) |
| Query Analysis | |
| • | Detect the use of date fields and suspected date fields |
| • | Find Select queries that display (output) date fields |
| • | Detect queries with criteria using dates and date ranges |
| • | Flag usage of date functions (DateVal, CVDate, Year, etc.) |
| Form and Report Analysis | |
| • | Know which forms and reports use dates in their RecordSource |
| • | Know which Combo Box and List Box use or display date fields |
| • | Verify control InputMasks and Formats support Year 2000 |
| • | Verify control widths can display four-digit years without truncation or word-wrapping |
| • | Find controls with date functions in their ControlSource |
| • | Perform Control Analysis listing every control, ControlSource, InputMask, Format, Validation Rule and Validation Text, so you can find controls using dates |
| Macro
Analysis Make sure Macros are Year 2000 ready: |
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| • | Detect macros with date conditions |
| • | Print outs of all macro lines or just lines with date issues |
| Module
Analysis Line by line analysis to detect words that are date related: |
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| • | Detect explicit dates |
| • | Detect lines of code using date commands |
| • | Detect variables defined as Date type (Access 97) |
| • | Complete module printouts with or without date issues |
| Import/Export
Analysis Verify file import and export settings use four-digit years in date fields. By default, Access only uses two-digit years. |
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| Complete
Field Cross-Reference Quickly see where every field and date field is used. A complete field cross-reference shows where every table or query field is used across all the queries, forms, and reports in your database. |
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| Customizable
String Search A list of date related words are searched throughout your database for exact and partial matches. Find every use of words like "Date", "January", "Year", etc. Add your own words, and find every field name, control name, property, module line, etc. that uses it. |
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Pricing and Availability
Total Access Inspector 2000 is available now with support for Access 2.0 or 97. Licensing is on a per developer basis. This product is available as a single copy or in a five-user package.
[pricing/inspectprice.htm]For quantities of 25 or more please contact us at: sales@fmsinc.com
Due to instability problems in Access 95 (version 7.0), we are unable to create a version of Total Access Inspector 2000 for it. Access 95 users should get the Access 97 version of Total Access Inspector 2000, convert their database to Access 97, run the program, then implement the fixes in the Access 95 database.
The following resources are available to help you learn more about Total Access Inspector:
Frequently Asked Questions
Download the Demo Version
Independent Reviews
Available Reports
Licensing Information
Product Comparison
Order Total Access Inspector
2000
Request
a Product Catalog
Year 2000 Technical
Papers
Order and pricing questions? Email sales@fmsinc.com
Technical questions? Email support@fmsinc.com
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