Getting SQL Syntax Error in INSERT INTO statement in Access 2010

Question

I have written the following Insert Into statement in Access 2010 VBA:

Private Sub AddBPSSButton_Click()

'    CurrentDb.Execute "INSERT INTO TabClearDetail(C_Site) VALUES(" & Me.C_Site & ")"

Dim strSQL As String

'MsgBox Me.[Clearance Applying For]
'MsgBox Me.[Contract Applying for]
'MsgBox Me.[C_Site]
'MsgBox Me.[C_SponsorSurname]
'MsgBox Me.[C_SponsorForename]
'MsgBox Me.[C_SponsorContactDetails]
'MsgBox Me.[C_EmploymentDetail]
'MsgBox Me.[C_SGNumber]
'MsgBox Me.[C_REF1DateRecd]
'MsgBox Me.[C_REF2DateRecd]
'MsgBox Me.[C_IDDateRecd]
'MsgBox Me.[C_IDNum]
'MsgBox Me.[C_CriminalDeclarationDate]
'MsgBox Me.[Credit Check Consent]
'MsgBox Me.[C_CreditCheckDate]
'MsgBox Me.[Referred for Management Decision]
'MsgBox Me.[Management Decision Date]
'MsgBox Me.[C_Comment]
'MsgBox Me.[C_DateCleared]
'MsgBox Me.[C_ClearanceLevel]
'MsgBox Me.[C_ContractAssigned]
'MsgBox Me.[C_ExpiryDate]
'MsgBox Me.[C_LinKRef]
'MsgBox Me.[C_OfficialSecretsDate]

strSQL = "INSERT INTO TabClearDetail(Clearance Applying For, Contract Applying for, " & _
"C_Site, C_SponsorSurname, C_SponsorForename, C_SponsorContactDetails, C_EmploymentDetail, " & _
"C_SGNumber, C_REF1DateRecd, C_RED2DateRecd, C_IDDateRecd, C_IDNum, " & _
"C_CriminalDeclarationDate, Credit Check Consent, C_CreditCheckDate, Referred for Management Decision, " & _
"Management Decision Date, C_Comment, C_DateCleared, C_ClearanceLevel, C_ContractAssigned, " & _
"C_ExpiryDate, C_LinkRef, C_OfficialSecretsDate) VALUES('" & Me.[Clearance Applying For] & "', " & _
"'" & Me.[Contract Applying for] & "', '" & Me.[C_Site] & "', '" & Me.[C_SponsorSurname] & "', " & _
"'" & Me.[C_SponsorForename] & "', '" & Me.[C_SponsorContactDetails] & "', " & _
"'" & Me.[C_EmploymentDetail] & "', '" & Me.[C_SGNumber] & "', '" & Me.[C_REF1DateRecd] & "', " & _
"'" & Me.[C_REF2DateRecd] & "', '" & Me.[C_IDDateRecd] & "', '" & Me.[C_IDNum] & "', " & _
"'" & Me.[C_CriminalDeclarationDate] & "', '" & Me.[Credit Check Consent] & "', '" & Me.[C_CreditCheckDate] & "', " & _
"'" & Me.[Referred for Management Decision] & "', '" & Me.[Management Decision Date] & "', " & _
"'" & Me.[C_Comment] & "', '" & Me.[C_DateCleared] & "', '" & Me.[C_ClearanceLevel] & "', " & _
"'" & Me.[C_ContractAssigned] & "', '" & Me.[C_ExpiryDate] & "', '" & Me.[C_LinKRef] & "', " & _
"'" & Me.[C_OfficialSecretsDate] & "');"

DoCmd.RunSQL (strSQL)

'MsgBox strSQL

End Sub

All The MsgBox calls work, so I believe I have typed all column names and text box names correctly. I am getting a Syntax error when I get to the DoCmd.RunSQL line. Have been staring at this for quite a while trying to see if I have missed a comma or speech mark or something, but am hoping maybe another set of eyes will see my mistake.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Answer 1

When you have spaces in your object names you need to enclose the full name in brackets. So where you have:

INSERT INTO TabClearDetail(Clearance Applying For, Contract Applying for,...

It should be

INSERT INTO TabClearDetail([Clearance Applying For], [Contract Applying for],...

For what it's worth I personally can't stand special characters in object names for exactly this reason, if it's not too late you should consider renaming your columns. Pascal Case is usually clear enough for compound names, e.g. ClearanceApplyingFor. Or use under scores - Clearance_Applying_For.

I also think the convention in Access is to qualify dates with # rather than single quotes, i.e. #01/01/2014#, instead of `01/01/2014'

Answer 2

Either you try enclosing the date fields with "#" instead of "'" or change your database's "SQL Server Compatible Syntax" property.