I was recently asked to review the code differences between two Access databases. One was the then-current production version of the database. The other was a version that was being modified with new business rules. As a first pass, I decided to export all the form, report, and code modules from each database into separate text files in separate folders, then use a source code comparison tool to compare both sets of files for changes.
I may need to create some code that will compare other objects such as tables and queries, but for right now, comparing source code files has proved to be a good start for getting a handle on the changes. Here's the code I used to export all the modules.
Option Compare Database Option Explicit Public Sub CreateModuleFiles()'On Error GoTo Err_Handler Dim accObj As AccessObject 'Each module/form/report. Dim bWasOpen As Boolean 'Flag to leave form/report open if it was open. Dim strDoc As String 'Name of each form/report'Stand-alone modules. For Each accObj In CurrentProject.AllModules Call WriteOutModules(accObj.Name, True) Next'Modules behind forms. For Each accObj In CurrentProject.AllForms strDoc = accObj.Name bWasOpen = accObj.IsLoaded If Not bWasOpen Then DoCmd.OpenForm strDoc, acDesign, WindowMode:=acHidden End If If Forms(strDoc).HasModule Then Call WriteOutModules("Form_" & accObj.Name, False) End If If Not bWasOpen Then DoCmd.Close acForm, strDoc, acSaveNo End If Next'Modules behind reports. For Each accObj In CurrentProject.AllReports strDoc = accObj.Name bWasOpen = accObj.IsLoaded If Not bWasOpen Then'In Access 2000, remove the ", WindowMode:=acHidden" from the next line. DoCmd.OpenReport strDoc, acDesign, WindowMode:=acHidden End If If Reports(strDoc).HasModule Then Call WriteOutModules("Report_" & accObj.Name, False) End If If Not bWasOpen Then DoCmd.Close acReport, strDoc, acSaveNo End If Next End Sub Private Function WriteOutModules(strModule As String, bIsStandAlone As Boolean) Dim strCode As String Dim bWasOpen As Boolean 'Flag applies to standalone modules only. Dim lngLineNo As Long If bIsStandAlone Then bWasOpen = CurrentProject.AllModules(strModule).IsLoaded End If If Not bWasOpen Then DoCmd.OpenModule strModule End If For lngLineNo = 1 To Modules(strModule).CountOfLines strCode = strCode & Modules(strModule).Lines(lngLineNo, 1) & vbCrLf Next strCode = strCode & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & vbCrLf If Not bWasOpen Then On Error Resume Next DoCmd.Close acModule, strModule, acSaveNo End If Dim intFile As Integer'*** Set to next free open number *** intFile = FreeFile() Open "C:\output\modules\" & strModule & ".txt" For Output As #intFile Print #intFile, strCode Close #intFile Debug.Print strModule & " complete" DoEvents End Function