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Q242478: PRB: DAO Recordset RecordCount Incorrect When Based on Text File

Article: Q242478
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): WINDOWS:5.0,6.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbDAOsearch kbDAO350 kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbGrpDSVBDB kbDSupport kbDAO360
Last Modified: 11-JAN-2001

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SYMPTOMS
========

When using the Jet Text ISAM Driver to open a Recordset based on a delimited or
fixed width text file, the count returned from the RecordCount property is
incorrect.

DAO 3.51 and DAO 3.6 may yield different results, however both are incorrect.

Testing text files with a varying number of rows and types of delimiters yielded
the following results:

+---------------------------------------------------------+
| Type of File          | Actual Rows | 3.51 RecordCount* | 
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| Tab-delimited         | 17          | 22                | 
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| CSV                   | 20          | 27                | 
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| Semicolon delimited   | 29          | 42                | 
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| Fixed Width           | 30          | 32                | 
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| Fixed Width           | 60          | 65                | 
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| Semicolon delimited** | 3           | 3                 | 
+---------------------------------------------------------+

*The RecordCount returned when using DAO 3.6 are different from the values
earlier.
**A file with a very small number of rows may return the correct record count.

RESOLUTION
==========

If you require an accurate record count of the Recordset, add a user defined
counter within a loop, incrementing it by one as you loop through the entire
Recordset.

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a bug in the Microsoft products listed at the
beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Steps to Reproduce the Problem
------------------------------

1. Create a standard exe project in Visual Basic.

2. Choose References from the Project menu and select the Microsoft DAO Library.

3. Paste the following code into the form code window in the form load event.

  Dim dbstext As DAO.Database
  Dim rst1 As DAO.Recordset
  Dim lngRecCount As Long

  'C:\MyDir\TextFileDir is a directory where a tab delimited file named Orders.txt resides.
  'Orders.txt is a comma delimited file created from exporting the Orders table from Northwind.mdb.
  Set dbstext = OpenDatabase("C:\MyDir\TextRecCount", False, True, "Text;")

  Set rst1 = dbstext.OpenRecordset("Orders")

  rst1.MoveLast
  MsgBox rst1.RecordCount

  rst1.MoveFirst

  lngRecCount = 0

  rst1.MoveFirst

  Do Until rst1.EOF
     lngRecCount = lngRecCount + 1
     rst1.MoveNext
  Loop
  MsgBox lngRecCount

4. Run the code and note the different count in the two message boxes.

If you are currently relying on the value of the RecordCount property to control
the number of times a loop executes, use the Recordset's BOF and EOF Properties
to determine when the Recordset has reached the first or last record. See the
loop in the earlier example.

Additional query words:

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbDAOsearch kbDAO350 kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbGrpDSVBDB kbDSupport kbDAO360 
Technology        : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbZNotKeyword6 kbZNotKeyword2 kbVB500Search kbVB600Search kbVBA500 kbVBA600 kbVB500 kbVB600
Version           : WINDOWS:5.0,6.0
Issue type        : kbprb

=============================================================================

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