MSQUERY: "Query Can't Be Represented" Using Paradox Table

• Microsoft Query for Windows, version 1.0
• Microsoft Query for Windows 95, version 2.0

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Query, if you create a query using a Paradox data source, and you edit the SQL command directly in the SQL dialog box, you receive the following error message:

   SQL Query can't be represented graphically. Continue anyway?

CAUSE

This behavior occurs if you are using a Paradox table file that does not contain an index.

Normally you receive this error message when Microsoft Query can't display the Table pane for a given query. However, when you create a query using an unkeyed Paradox table, you receive the error message when you edit the SQL command directly, regardless of how you edit the command.

WORKAROUND

To avoid receiving this error message when you edit the SQL command directly in a query using a Paradox table, do one of the following to create an index on a field in the table:

• If your table contains data, you must open the table in Paradox and assign a primary key to one of the fields in your table. Until you define a primary key in the table, you cannot edit the data in the table in Microsoft Query.

  -or-

• If your table does not contain any data, you can create an index in the table by using the following steps:

        1. From the File menu, choose Table Definition.
  

        2. From the Available Data Sources list, select the Paradox data
           source, and choose Use.
  
        3. From the Table Name list, select the unkeyed Paradox table that
           does not contain any data. Choose Index.
  
        4. In the Index Name box, enter the name of the table. For Paradox
           files, the index name must be the same as the table name.
  
        5. From the Index Fields list, select the field that you want to
           index. Choose OK.
  
  

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q111046
   TITLE     : MSQuery Err Msg: "Cannot Define Primary" in Paradox Table

REFERENCES

To view the Error Message Reference, choose the Search button in Help and type:

   error messages