Vishal Monpara's Blog

MS Access Pass-through query Error: Cannot execute a select query

Vishal Monpara — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:02:52 GMT

When I tried to run an UPDATE statement from pass-through query, it throwed error "Cannot execute a select query". This is due to that fact the property ReturnsRecords is set to True which requires the pass through query to return results. If it does not return recordset, it will throw an error. You can correct this error by

Open pass-through query into design mode. Click on Properties button (Alt+Enter) and set Return Records to No
Using program you can set QueryDef object's ReturnsRecords property to False.

Check the existence of COM object registered using regsvr32

Vishal Monpara — Fri, 02 May 2008 23:03:02 GMT

I had a chance to work on project which was using a COM object. This object was registered using regsvr32. During application migration to another server, I wanted to check the if this object exists on new server or not. I don't wanted to write VB application to just check that object so suddenly a thought came in my mind. If I write down a vbs script file, with few lines of code, I can check out quickly. Here are the instructions to do it.

For this, you need to create a file checkobject.vbs on your computer and copy/paste the following code in it.

On Error Resume Next
Dim objVariable
Set objVariable = WScript.CreateObject ("Wscript.Network1" )
If Err.Number <> 0 Then
	Msgbox "Object is not found", vbCritical
	Err.Clear
Else
	Msgbox "Object found"		
End If
Set objVariable = nothing

Now if you double click on that file, VB Script will be executed and appropriate message will be shown.

MS Access: Check If The Normal Form Or Subform Form Is Loaded

Vishal Monpara — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:59:18 GMT

If you need to check if MS Access form is loaded or not, you can easily check it using the folloing code

If CurrentProject.AllForms("FORMNAME").IsLoaded = True Then
	' DO SOMETHING
End If

This code is good until you are using single form application. This code will fail if the form is used as subform. To search all the forms including subform, I have created a function calling which will search for all the loaded forms and gives the result as boolean value. Here is the example to check if the form is loaded or not

Dim IsLoaded as Boolean
IsLoaded = IsFormLoaded("FORMNAME")

The function IsFormLoaded will search each and every control within each form to find the form FORMNAME. Of course, this is a overhead to the application so to reduce the amount of search, two optional arguments can be provided which can be very helpful in searching subform. If you already know the parent form name of the subform and the controlname which holds subform within parent form, the time to search subform will be reduced. For example

Dim IsLoaded as Boolean
IsLoaded = IsFormLoaded("FORMNAME","PARENTFORMNAME")

will search all the controls withing PARENTFORMNAME form while

Dim IsLoaded as Boolean
IsLoaded = IsFormLoaded("FORMNAME","PARENTFORMNAME","CONTROLNAME")

will search for the CONTROLNAME control within PARENTFORMNAME form to check if the FORMNAME form is loaded.

The above mentioned functions are here.

Public Function IsFormLoaded(strFormName As String, 
		Optional LookupFormName As Form, 
		Optional LookupControl As Control) As Boolean
    Dim frm As Form
    Dim bFound As Boolean

    If Not (IsMissing(LookupFormName) Or IsNull(LookupFormName) 
		Or LookupFormName Is Nothing) Then
        If Not (IsMissing(LookupControl) Or IsNull(LookupControl) 
		Or LookupControl Is Nothing) Then
        On Error GoTo ErrorHandler:
            If LookupControl.ControlType = acSubform Then
                If LookupControl.Form.Name = strFormName Then
                    bFound = True
                End If
            End If
        Else
            Call SearchInForm(LookupFormName, strFormName, bFound)
        End If
    Else
        For Each frm In Forms
            If frm.Name = strFormName Then
                bFound = True
                Exit For
            Else
                Call SearchInForm(frm, strFormName, bFound)
                If bFound Then
                    Exit For
                End If
            End If
        Next
    End If
ErrorHandler:
    IsFormLoaded = bFound
End Function

Public Function SearchInForm(frm As Form, strDoc As String, 
			bFound As Boolean)
On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
    Dim ctl As Control

    For Each ctl In frm.Controls
        If ctl.ControlType = acSubform Then
            If ctl.Form.Name = strDoc Then
            'If ctl.SourceObject = strDoc Then
                bFound = True
            Else
                Call SearchInForm(ctl.Form, strDoc, bFound)
            End If
SkipElement:
            If bFound Then
                Exit For
            End If
        End If
    Next
    Exit Function
ErrorHandler:
            Resume SkipElement
    
End Function

MS Word: Remove watermark from all Word pages using VBA

Vishal Monpara — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:17:23 GMT

You can create watermark in MS Word document by going to Format Menu > Background > Printed Watermarks... Here you will be able to set Text Watermark in each page. Now if you want to remove the watermark from all pages, use the following VBA script.


   Dim section As Word.section
   Dim pheadertype As Long
   Dim hdr As Range
   Dim sp As Shape
   Dim str As String
   For Each section In ActiveDocument.Sections
      With section
         Set hdr = .Headers(wdHeaderFooterFirstPage).Range
         For Each sp In hdr.ShapeRange
            str = sp.Name
            If InStr(str, "PowerPlusWaterMarkObject") > 0 Then
               sp.Visible = msoFalse
             End If
          Next
          Set hdr = .Headers(wdHeaderFooterPrimary).Range
          For Each sp In hdr.ShapeRange
             str = sp.Name
             If InStr(str, "PowerPlusWaterMarkObject") > 0 Then
                 sp.Visible = msoFalse
             End If
           Next
       End With
    Next

CodAddict: A new way to store and manage your code bookmarks/examples

Vishal Monpara — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 20:40:35 GMT

It was very difficult for me to remember all my code examples and mingle my code bookmark with my social bookmarks. So I came up with a solution to easily store and manage code examples online. The website name is http://www.codaddict.com. I have come up with this name because I am a code addict. I hope you will also like this website and use it to store your code bookmark and share your knowledge with whole world.

Main Features

Its FREE!!!
Access your code example from any end of the world
Store your code example from any end of the world
Dont go through a lengthy article when you need a line of code
Make you code example private if you want to.
Easily organize your code example
Retrive your code example very easily
Import/export your code examples with a single click
Share your code examples with the world
Get new ideas from other geek's code example
Separate your code example bookmark from social bookmark
Built by a developer who knows what you need.
Takes about 1 minute to join.

Flash File (.swf) is not loading in IE, works fine in FF

Vishal Monpara — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:04:22 GMT

I have some video tutorial uploaded on my website. I tried it on FF and it worked perfectly but when I tried on IE, I did not get anything. I checked on google and after spending much time, I found the problem. I am explaining with example.

<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000" 
id="banner" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/
pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"
 border="0" width="754" height="64">
	<param name="movie" value="banner.swf">
	<param name="quality" value="High">
	<embed src="http://www.domain.com/video/banner.swf"
 pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" 
type="application/x-shockwave-flash" 
name="banner" width="754" height="64" quality="High"></object>

Now IE uses param movie tag to download swf file and FF uses embed src tag to download swf. Now you realized why IE is not displaying flash object. Correct code would be

<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000"
id="banner" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/
pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"
border="0" width="754" height="64">
	<param name="movie" value="http://www.domain.com/video/banner.swf">
	<param name="quality" value="High">
	<embed src="http://www.domain.com/video/banner.swf"
pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"
type="application/x-shockwave-flash" name="banner" 
width="754" height="64" quality="High"></object>

Wordpress Comment Spam Even with Comments Disabled for Blog

Vishal Monpara — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 19:06:22 GMT

I have my wordpress blog at http://diary.vishalon.net. Every day I am getting hundreds of comment spam. I had installed comment spam fight plugin and it seems like worked for few days but again I was getting spam comments. I changed the settings of blog so that only logged in user can put a comment. I even disabled comments completely but all efforts were in vein. I tried to find some information on google but couldn't get it So I thought let me debug the application and check it out why I am getting hunderds of comments everyday. For this, in wp-comments-post.php file I wrote a code to write all parameters in a text file so I can check out what's wrong with application. I can post my comment and see the log file but for spam, there was no log trail. It seemed to me that comments are coming from other files. so I moved that code into config file and I found that those comments are actually trackbacks. If you want to check if the comment is trackback or not, check the Email value of comment. If you see it empty, it means it is a trackback. I disabled trackback by loggin in site > Options > Discussion and disabling trackback and pingback.

Now I am relieved of spam comments(actually trackbacks).

php.ini changes have no effect

Vishal Monpara — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:21:41 GMT

Today I tried to install PHP and MySQL on my local Windows XP Pro machine. Both were working fine individually but I couldnot connect to the MySQL from PHP code. I tried to change php.ini file but no matter what I do, changes were not reflected when I tried phpinfo() function.

It was showing Configuration File (php.ini) Path = C:\php\php.ini which is correct and I did not have any php.ini on any other location. Everytime I make changes, I was restarting the IIS Server but any how changes were not reflected. In resetting IIS what I was following is go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Internet Information Services > Expand [Computer Name] > Expand Website > Right Click on Default Website and press Stop button and again start it. But after sometime I found that this is NOT IIS restart. It is just Website restart. For IIS restart run the following command on Dos prompt.

iisreset /restart

And boom. I got my php correctly configured and now I can connect to MySQL from PHP code.

How to Enable Windows XP Language Toolbar?

Vishal Monpara — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 18:25:52 GMT

I was completely frustrated with Languge toolbar as it was enabled in some computer and not enabled in other computer. I tried many methods and after some trial and error, I found few things which might help you get your Windows Language Toolbar back. This solution is given for Windows XP user.

Method 1:
Right click on the Taskbar and go to toolbars. If Language Bar option is there check it by clicking it. and you will get Language Toolbar.

Method 2:
Go to Start menu > Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > Languages Tab > Text Services and Input Languages Box> Details... > Settings Tab > Preferences Box > Language Bar...
Now tick the option "Show Language bar on desktop" and you will get Language bar on your task bar.

Make sure that Start menu > Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > Languages Tab > Text Services and Input Languages Box> Details... > Advanced Tab > System Configuration Box
Make sure that Turn off advanced text service is unchecked.

Method 3:
Language bar is a core component in Windows XP. When you are opening any Office XP application, this program starts running. Sometime, this program runs on startup. If you want to check if this program is running or not, to to task manager by clicking ctrl+Shirt + Esc or by right clicking on Taskbar and choosing Task Manager > Processes tab. Check if the process ctfmon.exe is running or not. If it is not running, go to Start > Run... Type ctfmon and press Enter. This will start the process and you will be able to see Language Bar.

Method 4:
Go to Start > Run... type regedit. This will open up registry. Browse to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\CTF\LangBar
Here you will see
1) ExtraIconsOnMinimized = 1
2) Label = 1
3) ShowStatus = 4
4) Transparency= ff

Out of these four options, ShowStatus is very important and it is responsible for actually showing the Language Bar on Taskbar. If you dont have this option set to 4, set it 4, close regedit browser, kill the process ctfmon.exe if it is there and start it by following steps in Method 3.

I hope now you would have got your Language Toolbar.

Click here for Video Tutorial on How to Enable Language Toolbar in Windows

WordPress Yearly/Monthly/Weekly Post Repeater Plugin

Vishal Monpara — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 20:11:52 GMT

Post Repeater plugin is a boon when you need to repeat a single post every year/month/week of the day. You may achieve this functionality by editing timestamp manually, but using this plugin you can automate this task. This plugin is very useful when you are blogging about weekly/monthly/yearly/historical events, famous persons etc. All the posts which needs to be repeated are listed on the top of your blog posts for that day.

Download WordPress Post Repeater Plugin

Features

Uses custom field
No change required in theme
No cron job
No change in original timestamp of post

Version Supported

WordPress 2.1 and greater
WordPress Mu 1.1 and greater

Installtion Procedure:

Download the plugin and unzip it
Put the PostRepeater.php file into your wp-content/plugins/ directory
Go to the Plugins page in your WordPress Administration area and click "Activate" for Post Repeater Plugin

So easy hmmm.......

How to repeat your post?

It is even simpler than installing your plugin. Choose the post you need to repeat and open it in edit mode. This plugin uses custom field to tag the repeater post.
Here is the custom field settings
Key = REPEATON, Value = MM/DD for yearly repeat
Key = REPEATON, Value = DD for monthly repeat
Key = REPEATON, Value = Sun/Mon/Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri/Sat for weekly repeat

Custom Field Settings Example

Key = REPEATON, Value = 04/24 will repeat the post on 24th April every year.
Key = REPEATON, Value = 09 will repeat the post on 9th of every month.
Key = REPEATON, Value = Fri will repeat the post on every friday.

Dont forget that you must have to put two digits for date and month number.

Known Issue

If your repeating post is very latest and comes on the front page of your blog, it will be repeated. (This post will be shown as a repeating post and as a regular post)

FAQ's

1) I activated plugin but cannot see repeating post.
Check your wordpress version. It must be WP 2.1 or > or WPMU 1.1 or >. Check the custom field name and make sure that you spelled it correct. Check the custom field value is set to proper format MM/DD (with leading zero)

2) I would like to activate Sticky Post Plugin as well
Dont do that mistake. It is going to throw mysql error.

3) I got wierd mysql error
This plugin changes query for showing posts. It is possible that you have another plugin which also modifies the query and hence the resultant query is a junk query which MySQL is not recognizing. so now you have to deactivate any one of the plugin.