In one table, about 75% of the rows shows "(demo)" in the text columns. One of the columns only allows three characters so it only shows "(de". All the (demo) rows are sequential. There are normal rows before and after the (demo) rows. One column is a datetime and the (demo) rows are between 6/11/03 and 1/21/05. The rest of the non-text columns have data in them that looks legit.

Any particular reason for this? Did something break? Or was it bad data to begin with (data was entered via classic ASP web form)? No one who used the form between those times remembers there being a problem.

Looks like test data. Was someone stress testing you app during those times?

mmcdonal

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That would be my first guess... just seems odd that a chunk of consecutive rows for over a year show that and in that time period there's no "real" data. The afore mentioned 3 character column is only used for numbers, and the ASP form taking input has an integer-only check before submitting the form, so seeing "(de" in that column doesn't fly with the "test" scenario. I know Access likes to show #VALUE for things it can't understand so I was hoping this was a similar side effect. I'm sure something broke along the way, but I just don't know what it would have been. I showed it to the people who use the data and they're just running with it.

Well, it could have been an internal stress test of the database that used a different interface or a script to load up the transactions. If the page is doing data validation and not the underlying tables, then this is more than likely the case, perhaps?


mmcdonal

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