What is this Access bug? You do not have exclusive access to the database at this time

Tested on Access 2003 Pro (build 11.8321.8324) SP3.

Steps to reproduce:

• create a new database.
• create a new form.
• put a button on the form.
• paste the following code in the button's Click event procedure:

Debug.Print Workspaces.Count

Debug.Print CurrentDb.Name

• close the code editor and form, saving changes.
• do not skip this step: close Access.
• re-open Access and your database.
• open the form
• click the button
• click the toolbar b开发者_StackOverflow社区utton to switch the form to design mode.

You should see the following error dialog:

You do not have exclusive access to the database at this time. If you proceed to make changes, you may not be able to save them later.

Does anyone know what is going on here?

The simple workaround is to call CurrentDb prior to calling Workspaces for the first time:

Debug.Print CurrentDb.Name
Debug.Print Workspaces.Count
Debug.Print CurrentDb.Name

I'll take a shot at demystifying what's going on, but this is just my theory.

The relevant bits of the Access help file are as follows (for CurrentDb):

Note In previous versions of Microsoft Access, you may have used the syntax DBEngine.Workspaces(0).Databases(0) or DBEngine(0)(0) to return a pointer to the current database. In Microsoft Access 2000, you should use the CurrentDb method instead. The CurrentDb method creates another instance of the current database, while the DBEngine(0)(0) syntax refers to the open copy of the current database. The CurrentDb method enables you to create more than one variable of type Database that refers to the current database. Microsoft Access still supports the DBEngine(0)(0) syntax, but you should consider making this modification to your code in order to avoid possible conflicts in a multiuser database.

And for the Workspaces collection:

When you first refer to or use a Workspace object, you automatically create the default workspace, DBEngine.Workspaces(0).

It would seem that by creating the default workspace prior to the first call to CurrentDb, you are somehow causing CurrentDb to forget how it should work. It seems that instead of creating a new instance of the current database it just uses the one that's already lying around in the default Workspace.

Of course, this is all conjecture and I'm as curious as you to know the "real answer".