Is it possible to pass parameters programmatically in a Microsoft Access update query?

I just tested this and it works in Access 2010.

Say you have a SELECT query with parameters:

PARAMETERS startID Long, endID Long;
SELECT Members.*
FROM Members
WHERE (((Members.memberID) Between [startID] And [endID]));

You run that query interactively and it prompts you for [startID] and [endID]. That works, so you save that query as [MemberSubset].

Now you create an UPDATE query based on that query:

UPDATE Members SET Members.age = [age]+1
WHERE (((Members.memberID) In (SELECT memberID FROM [MemberSubset])));

You run that query interactively and again you are prompted for [startID] and [endID] and it works well, so you save it as [MemberSubsetUpdate].

You can run [MemberSubsetUpdate] from VBA code by specifying [startID] and [endID] values as parameters to [MemberSubsetUpdate], even though they are actually parameters of [MemberSubset]. Those parameter values "trickle down" to where they are needed, and the query does work without human intervention:

Sub paramTest()
    Dim qdf As DAO.QueryDef
    Set qdf = CurrentDb.QueryDefs("MemberSubsetUpdate")
    qdf!startID = 1  ' specify
    qdf!endID = 2    '     parameters
    qdf.Execute
    Set qdf = Nothing
End Sub

Try using the QueryDefs. Create the query with parameters. Then use something like this:

Dim dbs As DAO.Database
Dim qdf As DAO.QueryDef

Set dbs = CurrentDb
Set qdf = dbs.QueryDefs("Your Query Name")

qdf.Parameters("Parameter 1").Value = "Parameter Value"
qdf.Parameters("Parameter 2").Value = "Parameter Value"
qdf.Execute
qdf.Close

Set qdf = Nothing
Set dbs = Nothing

Many thanks for the information about using the QueryDefs collection! I have been wondering about this for a while.

I did it a different way, without using VBA, by using a table containing the query parameters.

E.g:

SELECT a_table.a_field 
FROM QueryParameters, a_table 
WHERE a_table.a_field BETWEEN QueryParameters.a_field_min 
AND QueryParameters.a_field_max

Where QueryParameters is a table with two fields, a_field_min and a_field_max

It can even be used with GROUP BY, if you include the query parameter fields in the GROUP BY clause, and the FIRST operator on the parameter fields in the HAVING clause.