Access To MySQL Documentation
This documentation is a changing document. Most of the program is self
explaining and need no further documentation. Play with it and find out what it
can do.
Content
Before you are able to run the program you need the
following installed on your system:
- Microsoft Windows operating system
- Microsoft Access
- MySQL ODBC driver
Note: If you use MySQL Server 4.1 or later you must have the ODBC version 3.51.10 or later.
The installation is very simple. Just download the setup
program and run it. A wizard will guide you through the installation.
When you start the program it will display a wizard
designed to guide you through the conversion of your Access database to a MySQL
database.
Source Database
Select the Access database that you want to convert.
Destination Database
After selecting a source database you must specify the
destination. The destination is a MySQL server or a dump file. If you select the
destination to be a dump file you must specify a file name of the dump file.
In case you want to transfer the source data directly to a
MySQL server you must enter the connection settings for the server. It is
important that the specified username and password are valid. Make sure that the
specified user is allowed to connect to the server from the computer where the
conversion is run.
Since the introduction of MySQL 4.1 it is required that you connect to a specific
database when you use ODBC. Hence, you must specify a database in the connection
settings. This database does not serve any other purpose that connecting to the
server. The connection database will not be modified during the transfer of data
unless you have specified the same database as the destination database. If you
connect to a MySQL server prior to 4.1 you can leave this field blank.
The specified database name, which receives the data, is
also entered here.
Select Tables
At this step of the conversion wizard all the source
tables are listed. Select the tables that you want to transfer.
Transfer Options
A set of transfer options will decide how the source
database is converted to MySQL. These options are listed below.
Drop and recreate destination database - If the
option is checked the destination database specified on the "Destination
Database" step of the wizard will be dropped and recreated during the transfer.
Please note that all information in the existing database is lost when using
this option.
Transfer indexes - This option will control the
creation of indexes on the new tables in the destination database. Check this
option to transfer indexes for all tables.
Transfer records - If you leave this option
unchecked you only transfer the table definitions and not the actual data. Check
this option to include the data in the transfer.
Default value properties - Some table fields may
have a default value when a new record is created. Check this option if you want
to transfer the definitions of default values to the destination table.
Auto number properties - In access you can define
fields of type "Autonumber". This property of the field can be transferred to
the destination database.
Conversion Result
After conversion the wizard will show you the result of
the conversion. In case of an error during the conversion that error would be
listed in the result.
All the settings of the wizard can be saved in case you
want to run the wizard with the same settings again at a later time. Save
settings can also be used to run the conversion from a command line at a later
time. Please note that passwords are stored in clear text within the
configuration file.
Another powerful feature of this program is the command
line interface. It enables you to run the conversion without any user
interaction.
It is possible to specify a settings file from the command line.
msa2mys settings=mysettings.ini
msa2mys [SETTINGS="mysettings.ini"] [, AUTORUN] [, HIDE]
[, CLEARLOG]
AUTORUN - Run without interaction.
CLEARLOG - Clear the log file. If this parameter is
omitted the log file will continue to grow.
HIDE - Disables messages in case of an error. Errors are
logged to the log file.
SETTINGS - Specifies a saved configuration file.
Saved passwords
When you run the wizard it will remember your selections until you run it the
next time. Passwords are not remembered because of security reasons. However, if
you want the program to remember the passwords you can change the following
registry entry:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\VB and VBA Program Settings\MS Access to MySQL\Settings\SavePasswords
Set the value to 1 in order to store passwords and change it to 0 if you want
to disable this feature. Please note that passwords are stored in clear text
within the configuration file.
Q: Why do I get a 'Catastrophic Failure' when connecting to the destination database?
A: The most common reason for this error is that you are using MySQL Server 4.1 or later with
Access to MySQL version 1.2.0.29 or earlier. You must upgrade to Access to MySQL version 1.2.0.30 or later. If you have this version you can still get this error if you do not specify a connection database when entering the connection options.
Q: Why do I get an error about the 'authentication protocol' when connecting to the destination database?
A: Most likely because you use an older MySQL ODBC driver. You driver must have version 3.51.10.0 or later.
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