Microsoft Access: Unable to update a recordset or field value

Microsoft Access is a seriously weird product, but I mostly know my way around the bugs. One of the most annoying bugs/behaviors is when Access decides you can't edit a field in a join. I can find neither rhyme nor reason for why this happens. This note has my entire, painfully acquired, solution set for this problem. It dates from Access 2000, but it remains topical

This recordset is not updateable

Access 2000 and Jet 4.0 changed quite a bit. One problem is that RecordSets that used to be updateable aren't.

As a fix, try changing the value of the query's UniqueRecords property (from yes to no or vice-versa) Q207761 - ACC2000 Changes in Use of DISTINCTROW in Microsoft Access 2000. See also 011217_AccessUpdatesHelpFile.pdf. I had to change the properties for the query to "Dynaset (Inconsistent Updates)", which I fear increases the risk of the Cursor Problem [1]. It's probably better to change the UniqueRecords property to NO.

Sometimes defining relationships in Tools:Relationship will prevent this from happening, especially if one assigns referential integrity and "cascade update related fields". Also look at which "side" of two joined fields appears in the relation, sometimes changing that will fix the problem.

[1] I think this was fixed in Access 2003. In Access 2000 it was possible for edits to be applied to rows removed from the row the UI presented.

Fuzzy Gazetteer: finding places where you don't quite know the name

Does anyone imagine they "know" the web any more?

Fuzzy Gazetteer:

The Fuzzy Gazetteer enables you to find geographic features even when you do not know their exact names.

A list of similar names is returned, web-linked to the JRC Digital Map Archive of the European Commission.

The JRC digital map is yet another wonder. Off to the side there are icons that let you see the image via Google Earth or NASA's image repository. In this case, the map shows a creek in the Congo.

I think I've just had another Cyberpunk moment.

Verify your iPhoto Libraries with iPhoto Library Manager

[Update 2/1/06: I think I found one bug. If there's a name collision between an existing and imported smart album (transformed to non-smart album) the imported album is created with a numeric suffix, but it is empty. Incidentally (not a bug) collisions between keywords are treated as a merge. To be safe, give albums a unique name prior to import.]
[Update 2/3/06: See this before you try anything!

I am a big fan of iPhoto Library Manager. From my post to the Apple Discussion List:

Apple - Support - Discussions - VERIFY your library prior to update: ...

I am a believer. Please, verify your iPhoto library prior to updating. In fact, verify it every few months. I did this with my iPhoto 5 Libraries prior to updating and I'm so happy I'm buying a SECOND license to IPLM just to say thanks. [1]

How do you verify? You register iPhoto Library Manager ($20) and you use it to verify your library.

But, you say, IPLM is just used to manage multiple libraries. There are free apps to do that, iPhoto 6 can handle 250,000 images (given enough machine power), iP6 can option-click load separate Libraries anyway.

All right. Except IPLM is the most perversely unmarketed software in existence. The library manager features are free. They are nice, but not essential.

What you get for $20 is the barely mentioned capability to combine (merge, import) Libraries or portions of Libraries (images and albums) with much of the metadata preserved (titles, comments, keywords(!), ratings, roll data, and album membership).

But, you say, I don't need to merge Libraries. I have one Library, my partner(s) and children use the one Library, I don't have a desktop/laptop Library. Ahh, but you do need to verify.

How do you verify? You tell IPLM to create a new Library and import all the images from your existing Library. You won't KEEP the new Library. You do this to test for problems.

If there are no error messages, no glitches, matching image counts, etc -- you're fine. Otherwise, sort this out BEFORE you update.

I have done this with two libraries of about 3000 images each. In each case IPLM/iPhoto identified ONE corrupted JPEG [2]. I was able to restore from old CD archives.

Now I feel confident in the integrity of my iPhoto Libraries. I will be using IPLM to verify them every few months from now on.

Highly recommended. And no, I'm not associated with them in any way.

[1] In my case I have 3 iP5 Libraries and I want ONE iP6 Library on my iMac -- I decided to do the merge prior to going to iP 6 because IPLM has been used for over a year for iP 5 merges, so it's more tested that way.

[2] What happens is iPhoto reports it couldn't import an image. On examination in an image editor the JPEG is corrupted. When I went to backups and the original Library I confirmed the corruption. Don't try to open these images in iP 5 -- they will cause iP 5 to hang with a spinning pizza of death. Yes, that's very bad programming. Preview manages them properly. In both cases I was able to get an original good image from old CDs and archives -- but I backup more than 99% of the world. I think these images were corrupted by older/flakier versions of OS X and iPhoto. I have a personal evidence-free belief that the pre-journaled OS X file system was not reliable.

Update 2/2/06: When one imports a Library using IPLM iPhoto 5 creates an system folder structure based first on EXIF tags (if available) and secondly on the image file last modified date. These folders are usually invisible to the user. In my case my iPhoto 5 Libraries, when viewed using the Finder prior to import, had a directory structure that mirrored the iPhoto assigned dates of images. They had this structure even though scanned images lacked EXIF headers. After import, the Finder structure mirrored the last modified date of images. This is somewhat curious. Since iPhoto 6 makes the same change when one updates it's kind of unavoidable anyway.

Trimming tracks in iTunes and other tips

This TUAW article has a some good tips, and a link to an Apple site with even better ones: TUAW Tip: Trimming tracks in iTunes - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW). I've not paid enough attention to how iTunes has grown.

What Google wants a web site to be

Google Information for Webmasters is very informative. It links to their sitemaps page. I'm starting to see Google search results with sublinks below the main link, I suspect those are coming from the Sitemaps. I'd like to give it a try myself.

Graf Skates: the MacBook of the Ice

Guy Kasawki loves Graf skates and Bauer sticks; he compares them to the MacBook. Hmm. If Guy likes them, maybe I would too.

There's a term for this sort of thing (P1 likes B and C, P2 likes C, maybe P2 will like B?) but forget the name and I'm too lazy to Google it.

Of course I don't need Graf skates. I only skate and stick handle to amuse my 9 yo. It's like me riding Lance Armstrong's bike. Looks stupid. On the other hand, I'd really enjoy riding a bike like Lance's, even if I was poking along. At my age, I don't mind looking stupid.

iPhoto Library Manager: merging iPhoto 6 Libraries

This appears to be the ONLY way to combine multiple iPhoto Libraries. (Example: import work done on a traveling laptop with the main library on server.) Review will follow below as an update to this post.

Apple - Support - Discussions - Does this Library Merge technique work ...

iPhoto Library Manager was updated this am. It now supports merging libraries with iPhoto 6:

http://homepage.mac.com/bwebster/iphotolibrarymanager.html

The Library switching functionality is free, the merging functionality is a very reasonable fee. I have not tested it but will be doing so shortly. Since we've established that merge techniques that worked with iPhoto 5 don't work with iPhoto 6, this is the only known way to combine, integrate, merge, import etc. iPhoto Libraries. It's amazing that Apple doesn't support this themselves, I can only guess that they want to reserve that functioanality for Aperture.