JWhite
11-07-2011, 02:03 PM
I have an application where the user can load very large amounts of data into a pivottable. They enter the selection criteria in a menu and I construct the SQL call to either an Oracle or an SQL Server database.
If they're careless with their selection criteria they can run out of memory. The user is soon aware that they've done something wrong because the data loads usually complete within a minute but, if they make a mistake, it may sit there loading data for 20 or 30 minutes before they finally get the error message that they've run out of data.
So they've requested that I give them some way to interrupt the data load if it's taking too long. The only way I know of that they can do that is by killing Excel with the Task Manager. They're not too happy with that option but I don't think I can interrupt the data load once it's started - can I?
FYI, I realize the best solution would be if my program could do a sanity check on their selection criteria before issuing the data load call but since there's a combination of factors involved I usually wouldn't know in advance.
If they're careless with their selection criteria they can run out of memory. The user is soon aware that they've done something wrong because the data loads usually complete within a minute but, if they make a mistake, it may sit there loading data for 20 or 30 minutes before they finally get the error message that they've run out of data.
So they've requested that I give them some way to interrupt the data load if it's taking too long. The only way I know of that they can do that is by killing Excel with the Task Manager. They're not too happy with that option but I don't think I can interrupt the data load once it's started - can I?
FYI, I realize the best solution would be if my program could do a sanity check on their selection criteria before issuing the data load call but since there's a combination of factors involved I usually wouldn't know in advance.