Decompile, Recompile, Repair and Compact

Heavy customizations of the front-end of Prime causes it to accumulate extra ‘stuff’ that isn’t removed by a standard Compact and Repair. It can also cause the code to become decompiled. This process will return the front end to the smallest size possible.

Where do you find it in Prime?

1) There is a secret, undocumented command in Access that allows you to remove almost all the garbage that accumulates during programming. Go to Explorer, after you've made major modifications to the front end and look at the file size. If it is larger than 60 MB you might want to try the following.

2) Press the Start Button, choose Run, (where you do this depends on your version of Windows) and then type:

MSAccess /decompile

Microsoft Access should open. Use the options available to select and open your copy of Prime. Access will take a little longer and decompile the front end. It will also remove all the excess baggage that Access accumulates.

3) This is half the job. Press F11 to open the Navigation Pane if it is not open, and go to any Module and double click on it to open it up. Choose the top line menu, Debug, and select Compile. Then click on File on the Ribbon Bar and pick Repair and Compact. (Again, where this appears depends on your version of Access.) This can shrink the program down significantly. Exit the program and check the size of the program in Explorer. Its size should be significantly smaller.

4) Now push out this front end to all users.