Database Documentation

Did you ever want detailed documentation about Queries, Tables, Reports, Macros and Modules in Prime? What about your custom queries, reports, etc.? (You can find these if the dates they were created were after the date on which you last updated.) Most People aren’t aware that you have the ability to generate almost any amount of information at any time you need it.

The options are under the Admin choice, either on the Ribbon Bar or the Admin Touch tile.

Note: You should be careful where you do this documentation. Some of these options will create a table of the objects. This is very convenient since the list doesn’t change, it can be used at any time, you can write a query on it, it can be sorted, etc. However, it can make a master front end much larger. To get around this:

1) Create the documentation in a copy, or

2) Remove any created table when finished and then run Compact and Repair from the Ribbon Bar File menu.

Table and Query Fields – Choosing an object name, such as Agency, brings up a list of the fields in that table with a description of the properties of each field, such as type, size, source, input mask, description, etc.

Table Fields – The user who makes many changes in Prime can generate an object inventory of the more than nineteen hundred objects in the database. This displays the names of forms, reports, queries, etc. and shows both the date on which they were created and the date they were last modified.

Object Inventory – This generates an object inventory for Prime and saves it in a table call yzstblInventory. It shows the more than 4300 objects in the database. It displays the names of all the forms, reports, queries, etc. It provides both the date on which they were created and the date they were last modified

Generate Documentation – This brings up the technical documentation generator built into Microsoft Access. For a printout of the all things related to your database including field and object properties, security settings and relationships, you can use the Database Documenter. This lists everything related to your database in one report

1) It is best to select one of each type of object you want to document, and the options you want and then generate a sample run. If you don’t do that, one of two things might happen:

i) You might get thousands of pages of documentation you don’t want or need.

ii) You might not get the information you need.

2) Adjust the options setting until you get the information you need. Then mark all the objects you want and generate the documentation.