BUG: VisData Error "Importing/exporting Table Names with Spaces" (191786)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows 5.0
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows 6.0
This article was previously published under Q191786

SYMPTOMS

When using the VISDATA Add-in for Visual Basic to import and export tables from one database to another, you receive one of the following error messages:
Query input must contain at least one table or query.
Number: 3067
or:
Syntax error in FROM clause.
Number: 3131

CAUSE

VISDATA input/output routines do not concatenate [ ] around table names, causing the Microsoft Jet database engine to have problems parsing the SQL statement.

RESOLUTION

If you do not have the source code to VISDATA available, either:

  • Rename the tables to eliminate spaces from the name. -or-

  • Use Microsoft Access, other tool, or write a custom program to perform the import/export operation. -or-

  • If you do have the source code to VISDATA, you can make a simple modification to each of the Import and Export routines to solve this problem.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

The Microsoft Jet database engine uses square brackets [ and ] to delimit table, field, and parameter names. In the case of simple names, having no spaces or punctuation, you do not have to use these delimiters. The code in VISDATA's Import and Export routine was written without the use of these delimiters and thus can only accept simple table names.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

  1. Run VISDATA.EXE from your Visual Basic directory. Alternatively, you can run Visual Basic and choose: Add-Ins | Visual Data Manager.

    NOTE: You do not have to create a project to do this.
  2. In VISDATA, select: File | Open Database | Microsoft Access.
  3. Locate NWIND.MDB and click Open.
  4. Select Import/Export.
  5. In the Import/Export dialog, select the Categories table and click the Export Table(s) button.
  6. In the Export 'Categories' dialog, choose Access MDB and click OK.
  7. Locate BIBLIO.MDB and click Save.
  8. In the Export dialog, rename Categories to Cat Backup and click OK.

    You will see the error message displayed. You can see a similar error importing the Title Author table from BIBLIO.MDB into NWIND.MDB. This problem also affects other database types, such as spreadsheets.

Correcting VISDATA

For the corrections listed below, make a copy of the line in question and comment it out. Modify the uncommented version of the line. This preserves the original code.

  1. Use Windows' Find File utility to locate VISDATA.VBP.
  2. Double-click the filename to launch Visual Basic.
  3. Open modVisData (VISDATA.BAS).
  4. In Sub Export, change the following line from: 
                gdbCurrentDB.Execute "select * into " & sConnect &
      StripOwner(sNewTblName) & " from " & StripOwner(rsFromTbl)
    to: 
                gdbCurrentDB.Execute "select * into " & sConnect & "[" &
      StripOwner(sNewTblName) & "] from [" & StripOwner(rsFromTbl) & "]"
  5. In Sub Import, change the following line from: 
                gdbCurrentDB.Execute "select * into " & sNewTblName & " from "
      & sConnect & sOldTblName
    to: 
                gdbCurrentDB.Execute "select * into [" & sNewTblName & "] from
      " & sConnect & "[" & sOldTblName & "]"
  6. Save your changes and use File | Make VISDATA.exe to rebuild the application. Move the file to your Visual Basic home directory and overwrite the old version of the file. You may want to back up or rename the original file first.
For Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual Studio 6.0, VISDATA is located on the MSDN CD-ROM and not the Visual Basic CD-ROM.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:1/8/2003
Keywords:kbbug KB191786
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