A couple of weeks ago I posted a question concerning
communicating
between VB and MSACCESS using DDE. The answers I received at
that time
allowed me to get a prototype of my project working. However,
during
this process I have come up with new problems.

1) There seems to be a limit of 255 characters for a DDE Topic
string. Is
this inherent in all DDE systems or just peculiar to MSACCESS
or VB?

2) It is easy to query an Access database from VB using the
DDE SQL command,
(provided the above limitation is overcome by using short
field and table
names) but how is one meant to update a database?
   a) A DDE SQL UPDATE command does not seem to work.
   b) Initiating an Access macro using a DDE Execute command
from VB cannot
      be used because when the macro requests information from
VB using a
      second DDE channel the programs dead lock until time-
outs occur.
      (The VB to Access channel has to close before the Access
to VB channel
      is initiated, I guess.)
   c) Access does not allow VB to DDE POKE the information.


   The way I eventually managed to update a database was by
sending key-
   strokes from VB to Access using the SendKeys command. This
technique has
   the problem that Access cannot be minimised and it must
always be in a
   state ready to respond to the sequence of key-strokes VB
sends.

Are all the above statements correct or have I made incorrect
assumptions?
Are there any better work arounds to the above? Are there any
signs of an
ODBC driver for Access?