DBEngine.CompactDatabase Method (DAO)
Copies and compacts a closed database, and gives you the option of changing its version, collating order, and encryption. (Microsoft Access workspaces only). .
Syntax
expression .CompactDatabase(SrcName, DstName, DstLocale, Options, password)
expression An expression that returns a DBEngine object.
Parameters
Name |
Required/Optional |
Data Type |
Description |
---|---|---|---|
SrcName |
Required |
String |
Identifies an existing, closed database. It can be a full path and file name, such as "C:\db1.mdb". If the file name has an extension, you must specify it. If your network supports it, you can also specify a network path, such as "\\server1\share1\dir1\db1.mdb" |
DstName |
Required |
String |
the file name (and path) of the compacted database that you're creating. You can also specify a network path. You can't use this argument to specify the same database file as SrcName. |
DstLocale |
Optional |
Variant |
A string expression that specifies a collating order for creating DstName, as specified in Remarks.
|
Options |
Optional |
Variant |
Optional. A constant or combination of constants that indicates one or more options, as specified in Remarks. You can combine options by summing the corresponding constants. |
password |
Optional |
Variant |
A string expression containing a password, if the database is password protected. The string ";pwd=" must precede the actual password. If you include a password setting in DstLocale, this setting is ignored.
Note
Use strong passwords that combine upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Weak passwords don't mix these elements. Strong password: Y6dh!et5. Weak password: House27. Use a strong password that you can remember so that you don't have to write it down.
|
Remarks
You can use one of the following constants for the DstLocale argument to specify the CollatingOrder property for string comparisons of text.
Constant |
Collating order |
---|---|
dbLangGeneral |
English, German, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Modern Spanish |
dbLangArabic |
Arabic |
dbLangChineseSimplified |
Simplified Chinese |
dbLangChineseTraditional |
Traditional Chinese |
dbLangCyrillic |
Russian |
dbLangCzech |
Czech |
dbLangDutch |
Dutch |
dbLangGreek |
Greek |
dbLangHebrew |
Hebrew |
dbLangHungarian |
Hungarian |
dbLangIcelandic |
Icelandic |
dbLangJapanese |
Japanese |
dbLangKorean |
Korean |
dbLangNordic |
Nordic languages (Microsoft Jet database engine version 1.0 only) |
dbLangNorwDan |
Norwegian and Danish |
dbLangPolish |
Polish |
dbLangSlovenian |
Slovenian |
dbLangSpanish |
Traditional Spanish |
dbLangSwedFin |
Swedish and Finnish |
dbLangThai |
Thai |
dbLangTurkish |
Turkish |
You can use one of the following constants in the options argument to specify whether to encrypt or to decrypt the database while it's compacted.
Constant |
Description |
---|---|
dbEncrypt |
Encrypt the database while compacting. |
dbDecrypt |
Decrypt the database while compacting. |
If you omit an encryption constant or if you include both dbDecrypt and dbEncrypt, DstName will have the same encryption as SrcName.
You can use one of the following constants in the options argument to specify the version of the data format for the compacted database. This constant affects only the version of the data format of DstName and doesn't affect the version of any Microsoft Access-defined objects, such as forms and reports.
Constant |
Description |
---|---|
dbVersion10 |
Creates a database that uses the Microsoft Jet database engine version 1.0 file format while compacting. |
dbVersion11 |
Creates a database that uses the Microsoft Jet database engine version 1.1 file format while compacting. |
dbVersion20 |
Creates a database that uses the Microsoft Jet database engine version 2.0 file format while compacting. |
dbVersion30 |
Creates a database that uses the Microsoft Jet database engine version 3.0 file format (compatible with version 3.5) while compacting. |
dbVersion40 |
Creates a database that uses the Microsoft Jet database engine version 4.0 file format while compacting. |
dbVersion120 |
Creates a database that uses the Microsoft Access database engine version 12.0 file format while compacting. |
You can specify only one version constant. If you omit a version constant, DstName will have the same version as SrcName. You can compact DstName only to a version that is the same or later than that of SrcName.
As you change data in a database, the database file can become fragmented and use more disk space than is necessary. Periodically, you can use the CompactDatabase method to compact your database to defragment the database file. The compacted database is usually smaller and often runs faster. You can also change the collating order, the encryption, or the version of the data format while you copy and compact the database.
You must close SrcName before you compact it. In a multiuser environment, other users can't have SrcName open while you're compacting it. If SrcName isn't closed or isn't available for exclusive use, an error occurs.
Because CompactDatabase creates a copy of the database, you must have enough disk space for both the original and the duplicate databases. The compact operation fails if there isn't enough disk space available. The DstName duplicate database doesn't have to be on the same disk as SrcName. After successfully compacting a database, you can delete the SrcName file and rename the compacted DstName file to the original file name.
The CompactDatabase method copies all the data and the security permission settings from the database specified by SrcName to the database specified by DstName.
Note
Because the CompactDatabase method doesn't convert Microsoft Access objects, you shouldn't use CompactDatabase to convert a database containing such objects.