Description of how to run the Access Conversion Scanning Tool at the command-line interface (875289)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office Access 2003
  • Microsoft Access 2002
  • Microsoft Access 2000
  • Microsoft Access 97
  • Microsoft Access for Windows 95


This article applies only to a Microsoft Access database (.mdb).

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

INTRODUCTION

The Access Conversion Scanning Tool, also known as Adscanner.exe, is a program that can run at the command-line interface to scan Microsoft Access databases on a network, on a share, or on a desktop. The Adscanner.exe program collects file properties, Access properties, and Data Access Object (DAO) properties of Access databases. This program is included with the Microsoft Office Access 2003 Conversion Toolkit. The Adscanner.exe program is not an Access application. The Adscanner.exe program can run from a computer that does not have Access installed.

This article describes how to use the Adscanner.exe program at the command-line interface. This article also describes the following:
  • The correct way to use each command-line argument for the Adscanner.exe program
  • The default settings for the command-line arguments for the Adscanner.exe program

MORE INFORMATION

By default, the Adscanner.exe program is stored in the following folder:

<Installation Drive>:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Conversion Toolkit

Note The placeholder <Installation Drive> is a placeholder for the drive letter where the installation of the Office Access 2003 Conversion Toolkit is located.

You can run the following command at the command prompt to see the usage information for the Adscanner.exe program.
adscanner /?
When you run the previous command, usage information that is similar to the following appears:

adscanner ResultPath [/sourcepath SourcePath] [/dao:off] [/acc:on] [/com:off] [/noconvdlg:[on|off]] [/maxcopy Size] [/temppath TempPath]

Each command-line argument that is mentioned in the usage information shows the possible settings for the specified command-line argument. There are eight possible command-line arguments for the Adscanner.exe program. The following list describes the details about the command-line arguments:
  • ResultPath

    This command-line argument is required. You use this command-line argument to specify the folder where you want to store the results of the scan. The Adscanner.exe program creates one .xml file for each database that is scanned.

    Notes
    • If you specify the path of an .xml file for this command-line argument, make sure that you only specify a single database to scan in the SourcePath command-line argument.
    • If the ResultPath command-line argument contains spaces, you must enclose the path in double quotation marks. The following sample code demonstrates this:
      adscanner "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Conversion Toolkit\res"
  • [/sourcepath SourcePath]

    This command-line argument is optional. You can use this command-line argument to specify the location that you want to scan for Access databases. You can specify a specific drive letter, a Universal Naming Convention (UNC) share path, or a specific database file. When a drive letter or a UNC is specified, that respective folder and all the subfolders are scanned for Access databases. If you do not specify this command-line argument, the Adscanner.exe program scans all the local hard drives for Access databases.

    Note If you do not specify this command-line argument, the Adscanner.exe program does not scan the mapped drives on your computer.
  • [/dao:off]

    This command-line argument is optional. You can use this command-line argument to specify that the Adscanner.exe program must not collect the DAO properties from the Access databases that are scanned. If you do not specify this command-line argument, the Adscanner.exe program collects the DAO properties from the Access databases.
  • [/acc:on]

    This command-line argument is optional. You can use this command-line argument to specify that the Adscanner.exe program must collect the Access properties from the Access databases that are scanned. To collect the Access properties, you must run the Adscanner.exe program on a computer that has Access 95 or later installed. If you do not specify this command-line argument, the Adscanner.exe program does not collect the Access properties from the Access databases.
  • [/com:off]

    This command-line argument is optional. You can use this command-line argument to specify that the Adscanner.exe program must not collect the computer properties for the Access databases that are scanned. If you do not specify this command-line argument, the Adscanner.exe program collects the computer properties for the Access databases.
  • [/noconvdlg:[on|off]]

    This command-line argument is optional. You can use this command-line argument to set the NoConvertDialog property for the databases that are scanned by the Adscanner.exe program. If the NoConvertDialog property is set to "Yes," Access prevents the conversion dialog box from appearing when you open a version of an Access database that is earlier than Access 2002 or Access 2003 in either Access 2002 or Access 2003.

    If you set this property for an Access database, the LastModified date of the Access database changes. If you do not specify this command-line argument, the Adscanner.exe program leaves the NoConvertDialog property as "uncreated" in the Access databases.
  • [/maxcopy Size]

    This command-line argument is optional. You can use this command-line argument to specify the maximum file size in megabytes (MB) that you want to let the scanner copy for the collection of Access properties.

    When the Adscanner.exe program collects the Access properties, the Adscanner.exe program makes a copy of each database that will be scanned and then opens the copy. You do this to preserve the LastModified date for the database. You can use this setting to limit the file size that is copied. If you do not specify this command-line argument, the Adscanner.exe program uses a default-file size of 50 MB.
  • [/temppath TempPath]

    This command-line argument is optional. You can use this command-line argument to specify a folder path. Before the Adscanner.exe program collects the Access properties of the Access databases, the Adscanner.exe program copies the Access databases to this folder path. You may specify a drive letter or a UNC path. If you do not specify this command-line argument, the Adscanner.exe program uses the folder path that is specified for the TEMP variable in the Microsoft Windows operating system that is running on your computer.

REFERENCES

For additional information about how to use the Adscanner.exe command-line arguments, see the Microsoft Access Conversion Toolkit documentation. To open the Access Conversion Toolkit documentation, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, point to Programs, and then point to Microsoft Office Tools.
  2. Point to Conversion Toolkit, and then click Conversion Tool Documentation.
For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

875290 You may receive the "Invalid command line" error message when you run the Access Conversion Scanning Tool at the command prompt

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:8/25/2004
Keywords:kbconversion kbCommandLine kbhowto kbinfo KB875289 kbAudDeveloper
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