When you insert a subform from a different database, how is it referenced? By database ID? How is it possible to “release” a database in this case, if the production version is linked back to a development database? How can this feature be useful? Can someone please explain how this works? Thanks.
Subject: Insert subform from a different database
I believe the intention here was to provide another method of being able to re-use or manage design elements. Something like inheriting from a design template: make one change and propagate it out to multiple databases. But I’ve found this kind of re-use (inserting subform from another database) problematic. As you already noted, when developing an app with this scenario and then moving it into production, the link remains to whatever database the subform was contained in when it was first inserted.
In these instances (along with using framesets set with content from other databases), you need to take additional care when rolling design changes into production to also set those “linked” design elements to point to their production counterparts. I think you might be able to get around these “link” problems if you are working with replicas of the production databases, which I know is not always feasible.
I assume in your case, you do have a production database containing that subform. All you can do at this point is open the production database (containing the form with the inserted subform) in designer and manually delete and then re-insert the subform from the appropriate production database.
To save yourself some grief in the future, you can always copy that subform into the same database as the form. At this point you can also set the subform to inherit from a design template, if so desired.
Hope that helps.
Subject: RE: Insert subform from a different database
Or in short: This feature is not very useful in real life.
Subject: RE: Insert subform from a different database
That’s what I suspected, unfortunately. Thanks for your explanation Wing Mar.