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iamnamja
 asked on

vba save line into a flat file

Hi,

I have a macro that goes through each name that is stated in the sheet and does a bunch of calculations etc...

Now I would like to create a log that will save a line per name that was run.  The only issue is that this macro is run by multiple users at the same time so I need a way to ensure that all lines are recorded.

I need to store only three things for each name it runs: name, username (computer name), date/time

the flat file will be ultimately used by another process done through the access database.

My biggest concern is if say two users are using the macro at the same time, how do i ensure that both macro's values are saved into the flat file?  Also what would be the most efficient way to save these lines into a text file?  

Please let me know if you need clarification.  Thank you!
Microsoft ExcelMicrosoft DevelopmentVB Script

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ltlbearand3

8/22/2022 - Mon
Andy Marshall

Hmm...  what you are suggesting sounds overly complicated to me.  Could you not create a logfile per user, with the same generic name but then append the username to distinguish it (e.g. MyLogFile_Eric.txt, MyLogFile_Joanna.txt), and then you won't have the worry about multiple users writing to the same file at once?

You could then get your Access database to extract the values from the directory where you are storing your logfiles and get it to process all of the files that start with 'MyLogFile_'.

Just a thought :o)
iamnamja

ASKER
the issue is... the process that writes to the log file is different than the process that reads it...

Since it locks when it's reading (from access) the issue occurs whenever someone opens the access database - which means the file is locked...  Then if someone tries to update the file while the database is open, it will keep the user from updaing the log file.
Andy Marshall

OK, that issue wasn't clear from your original post.  If you are having problems with people being unable to access a log file/write to a log file whilst Access has it open, how are you accessing it from Access - is it attached as a linked table or are you opening the log file in code and processing the contents?  It sounds as though you are attaching the file as a linked table.

If you need to have the log files 'writeable', but still want to process the contents of the files in Access, could you perhaps create a table in your Access DB to hold log file data, then import the contents of the log file you want to process, and then just work off the data in the table?  That way you get the data you want to process in Access, and the users can still access their log files.
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ltlbearand3

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