Editing Record issues in Access / SQL (Write Conflict)

Question

a problem has come up after a SQL DB I used was migrated to a new server. Now when trying to edit a record in Access (form or table), it says: WRITE CONFLICT: This record has been changed by another user since you started editing it...

Are there any non obvious reasons for this. There is noone else using the server, I've disabled any triggers on the Table. I've just found that it is something to do with NULLs as records that have none are ok, but some rows which have NULLs are not. Could it be to do with indexes? If it is relevant, I have recently started BULK uploading daily, rather than doing it one at a time using INSERT INTO from Access.

Letitialetizia

Answer 1

Possible problems:

1 Concurrent edits

A reason might be that the record in question has been opened in a form that you are editing. If you change the record programmatically during your editing session and then try to close the form (and thus try to save the record), access says that the record has been changed by someone else (of course it's you, but Access doesn't know).

Save the form before changing the record programmatically.
In the form:

'This saves the form's current record
Me.Dirty = False

'Now, make changes to the record programmatically

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2 Missing primary key or timestamp

Make sure the SQL-Server table has a primary key as well as a timestamp (= rowversion) column.

The timestamp column helps Access to determine if the record has been edited since it was last selected. Access does this by inspecting all fields, if no timestamp is available. Maybe this does not work well with null entries if there is no timestamp column (see 3 Null bits issue).

The timestamp actually stores a row version number and not a time.

Don't forget to refresh the table link in access after adding a timestamp column, otherwise Access won't see it. (Note: Microsoft's Upsizing Wizard creates timestamp columns when converting Access tables to SQL-Server tables.)

---

3 Null bits issue

According to @AlbertD.Kallal this could be a null bits issue described here: KB280730 (last snapshot on WayBackMachine, the original article was deleted). If you are using bit fields, set their default value to 0 and replace any NULLs entered before by 0. I usually use a BIT DEFAULT 0 NOT NULL for Boolean fields as it most closely matches the idea of a Boolean.

The KB article says to use an *.adp instead of a *.mdb; however, Microsoft discontinued the support for Access Data Projects (ADP) in Access 2013.

Range

do you explicitly need to save the record before setting the dirty flag or does Access take care of that? – Marbut

Setting Dirty = false does save the record. – Range

It also happens if I directly try to edit the linked table without forms and NOTHING else is changing the table. Again, I only have issues when editing a record with NULLs. – Letitialetizia

I'm sorry for not updating this at the time, but the issue was fixed by filling in any NULLs with a '0'. – Letitialetizia

The Bit issue was the same for me. Migrated the "Back End" half of an Access Database to SQL and couldn't update any records. It was becuase exporting the tables to SQL set the BIT fields as "NULL" so I had to update to NOT NULL with default of 0 – Samples

Answer 2

Had this problem, same as the original poster. Even on edit directly using no form. The problem is on bit fields, If your field is Null, it converts Null to 0 when you access the record, then you make changes which this time is the 2nd change. So the 2 changes conflicts. I followed Olivier's suggestion:

"Make sure the table has a primary key as well as a timestamp column."

And it solved the problem.

Slipperwort

This is precisely what worked for me as well...I had the primary key, but not the timestamp column. – Camphorate

Same here. I had the primary key and all bit columns set to eliminate nulls, but still kept getting the error in Access when updating records in a form. Adding the timestamp column solved it completely. It means adding 8 bytes (for MS SQL) per record in a table with 3 million records, so it was not my first choice, but it worked. – Camphene

Answer 3

I have seen a similar situation with MS Access 2003 (and prior) when linked to MS SQL Sever 2000 (and prior). In my case I found that the issue to be the bit fields in MS SQL Server database tables - bit fields do not allow null values. When I would add a record to a table linked via the MS Access 2003 the database window an error would be returned unless I specifically set the bit field to True or False. To remedy, I changed any MS SQL Server datatables so that any bit field defaulted to either 0 value or 1. Once I did that I was able to add/edit data to the linked table via MS Access.

Hohenlinden

Answer 4

I found the problem due to the conflict between Jet/Access boolean and SQL Server bit fields.

Described here under pitfall #4 https://blogs.office.com/2012/02/17/five-common-pitfalls-when-upgrading-access-to-sql-server/

I wrote an SQL script to alter all bit fields to NOT NULL and provide a default - zero in my case.

Just execute this in SQL Server Management Studio and paste the results into a fresh query window and run them - its hardly worth putting this in a cursor and executing it.

SELECT
    'UPDATE [' + o.name + '] SET [' + c.name + '] = ISNULL([' + c.name + '], 0);' + 
    'ALTER TABLE [' + o.name + '] ALTER COLUMN [' + c.name + '] BIT NOT NULL;' + 
    'ALTER TABLE [' + o.name + '] ADD  CONSTRAINT [DF_' + o.name + '_' + c.name + '] DEFAULT ((0)) FOR [' + c.name + ']'
FROM
    sys.columns c
INNER JOIN sys.objects o
ON  o.object_id = c.object_id
WHERE
    c.system_type_id = 104
    AND o.is_ms_shipped = 0;

Bonedry

Answer 5

This is a bug with Microsoft

To work around this problem, use one of the following methods:

• Update the form that is based on the multi-table view On the first occurrence of the error message that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section, you must click either Copy to Clipboard or Drop Changes in the Write Conflict dialog box. To avoid the repeated occurrence of the error message that is mentioned in the "Symptoms"
  section, you must update the recordset in the form before you edit
  the same record again. Notes To update the form in Access 2003 or in Access 2002, click Refresh on the Records menu. To update the form in Access 2007, click Refresh All in the Records group on the Home tab.

• Use a main form with a linked subform To avoid the repeated occurrence of the error message that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section, you can use a main form with a
  linked subform to enter data in the related tables. You can enter
  records in both tables from one location without using a form that is based on the multi-table view. To create a main form with a linked subform, follow these steps:

  Create a new form that is based on the related (child) table that is used in the multi-table view. Include the required fields on the form. Save the form, and then close the form. Create a new form that is based on the primary table that is used in the multi-table view. Include the required fields on the
  form. In the Database window, add the form that you saved in step 2 to the main form.

  This creates a subform. Set the Link Child Fields property and the Link Master Fields property of the subform to the name of the field or fields that are
  used to link the tables.

Methods from work around taken from microsoft support

Quintessa

See my comment on the other answer, if this was a form issue, it would not happen when editing the table direct with nothing else open! – Letitialetizia

Answer 6

I have experienced both of the causes detailed above: Directly changing data in a table that is currently bound to a form AND having a 'bit' type field in SQL Server that does not have the Default Value set to '0' (zero).

The only way I have been able to get around the latter issue is to add the default value of zero to the bit field AND run an update query to set all current values to zero.

In order to get around the former error, I have had to be inventive. Sometimes I can change the order of the VBA statements and move Refresh or Requery to a different location, thus preventing the error message. In most cases, however, what I do is DIM a String variable in the Subroutine where I call the direct table update. BEFORE I call the update, I set this String variable to the value of the Recordsource behind the bound form, thus capturing the exact SQL statement being used at the time. Then, I set the form's Recordsource to an empty string ("") in order to disconnect it from the data. Then, I perform the data update. Then, I set the form's Recordsource back to the value saved in the String variable, reestablishing the binding and allowing it to pick up the new value(s) in the table. If there is one or more subforms contained within this form, then the "Link" fields need to handled in a similar manner as the Recordsource. When the Recordsource is set to an empty string, you may see #Name in the now-unbound fields. What I do is simply set the Visible property to False at the highest possible level (Detail section, Subform, etc.) during the time when the Recordsource is empty, hiding the #Name values from the user. Setting the Recordsource to an empty string is my go-to solution when a coding change can't be found. I am wondering, though, if my design skills are lacking and there is a way to completely avoid the issue altogether?

One final thought on addressing the error message: Instead of calling a routine to directly update the data in the table table, I find a way to update the data via the form instead, by adding a bound control to the form and updating the data in that so that the form data and the table data do not become out of sync.

Sciatic

Answer 7

When last time I got this error, it was bit field having NULL value issue. But this time, it was different text size of source table field vs linked table field.

I checked all my bit fields in various tables but didn't find any issue. All of them had default value, so there were no NULL values for bit fields. I observed that a text field with nvarchar(500) was giving this error. The linked table was using old field size 50 instead of recently changed 500. Relink of tables solved the problem.

So another finding is if the data type is changed for a linked table, you need to relink the table.

Hoeve

Answer 8

In order to get over this problem. I created VBA to change another field in the same row. So I created a separate field which adds 1 to the contents when I try to close the form. This solved the issue.

Sanitarium

Answer 9

I've dealt with this issue with MS Access tables linked to MS SQL tables multiple times. The original poster's response was extremly helpful and was indeed the source of much of my issues.

I also ran into this issue when i accidently added a bit field with a space in the fieldname... yeah....

I had run alter table tablename add [fieldname ] bit default 0. i solution i found was to drop that field and not have a space in the name.

Tav

Answer 10

I had this issue and realized it was caused by adding a new bit field to an existing table. I deleted the new field and everything went back to working fine.

Bergius

Answer 11

If you are using linked tables, ensure you have updated these and retry before doing anything else.

I thought I had updated them but hadn't, turns out someone had updated the form validation and SQL tables to allow 150 chars, but hadn't refreshed the linked table hence access only saw 50 char allowed - Boom Write conflict

Not sure this is the most appropriate error for the scenario, but hey, most of the interesting issues are never flagged appropriately in any microsoft software!

Tumult

Answer 12

I´m using this workaround and it has worked for me: Front end: Ms Access Backend: Mysql

On the Before update event of a given field:

Private Sub tbl_comuna_id_comuna_BeforeUpdate(Cancel As Integer)

If Me.tbl_comuna_id_comuna.OldValue = Me.tbl_comuna_id_comuna.Value Then
Cancel = True
Undo
End If
End Sub

Caryopsis

Answer 13

I just had very havy write-conflict problems (Acc2013 32bit, SQL Srv2017 expr) with a rather "heavy loaded" Split-Form. For me - at last - was the solution to get rid of the write-conflict problems to simply

SET THE AcSplitFormDatasheet to READ-ONLY !!! (I haven't a clue why it was read-write anyway i must have set it by fault...)

It did nearly cost me a whole week to find that out.

Specialistic

Answer 14

I was having this problem and saving the record, marking Dirty to false, etc. did not work. It ended up that adding a timestamp column to the SQL table is what avoided/fixed the issue.

Hypsometer

Answer 15

Just had this issue on MS Access 365 connected to PostgreSQL server. The error only occurred when trying to edit the first row. I manually deleted the first row in pgAdmin 4, and then manually added it again. This solved the issue.

Unrig

While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes. - From Review – Bailiwick

Answer 16

In my case, getdate() also was wrong. Check those below,

a) bits should be not allow null, and default 0

b) getdate() should be format(getdate(), 'yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss')

Immunology

Answer 17

I was receiving the same error message. Id Column in database table was set to BigInt, changing it to Int resolved the issue.

Irksome