Access 2003 help

[dafuzz]

I've been asked to build a database in Access to keep track of a range of documents in .doc, .pdf and .html formats that're scattered all about a network drive.

I'm going to build a form so that new documents can be added and have keywords assigned, another form that will allow a search, and a report that will display the matching documents and allow the user to click on the relevant document and have it open in its relevant app (Word, Adobe Reader, etc).

I've found some VBA snippets that I can use, but before I set about reinventing the wheel does anybody know of a pre-existing template that does something similar? There may be one in Access (I'll be using 2003 btw) but I only have Open Office at home and that doesn't. I'll have... err... access to Access in the week but I want to get started now.

Any pointers very much appreciated.

[dafuzz]

I've got this off the ground but I'm a bit stuck.

In a nutshell - how do I search for text strings within a list of documents returned by an Access 2003 query? The documents are returned as pathnames (e.g. H:\meetings\janminutes.doc)

I assume the best way to do this is to pass my query results to windows explorer and use the built in search function there. That way I could have a button on my report form that, when clicked, fires up windows explorer with all the returned docs listed in there and the search pane open ready to take parameters.

I've figured out how to call explorer with the search frame open pointing at any folder I like using a shell command, and how to use a previously saved .fnd (saved windows search but parameters only, not results) but I can't figure out how to pass my query results for further searching. I've toyed with the idea of copying all the documents to a temp folder but if 1000+ docs are returned by the query this might take ages. I thought of creating and using shortcuts instead but windows won't search for text within a file via a shortcut link.

I reckon if I can figure out the syntax I can build my own .fnd on an ad hoc basis using VBA attached to a report form button, but I'm failing utterly to make sense of it after opening one in both notepad and a hex editor. I'm labouring under the assumption that I can specify a list of files rather than a folder as the basis for a search (as you can search within your search results again using explorer) but this may not be possible. Google is keeping schtum on the whole debacle.

Any suggestions? Thoughts? Any input whatsoever anybody please? Am I barking up the wrong tree entirely and there's a built in Access function I can use? Anything that will take a list of pathnames as an argument and allow text searching within those documents?

Thanks for reading if you made it this far

[holnrew]

No idea, but good luck.

[thereformant]

Originally Posted by dafuzz

I've been asked to build a database in Access to keep track of a range of documents in .doc, .pdf and .html formats that're scattered all about a network drive.

HAhAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA rather you than me

[manicguitarist2]

Erm....this may not be entirely useful...but I believe that you are entering a world of pain with a combination of access/vb/forms/data access pages.

It would be trivial in the extreme to create something akin to your requirements using C# and SQL Server Express - all of which can be had for free.