Access versions & development

  • Thread starter Thread starter CarrieL
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CarrieL

Can users with different versions of Access (2000,2002,2003,2007) use the
same program written in Access with a 2000 file format. Can a company
purchase prior versions (Access 2003) so that a program need not be upgraded
to 2007? What are the issues/implications?

Thank you.
 
Answers in-line

CarrieL said:
Can users with different versions of Access (2000,2002,2003,2007)
use the same program written in Access with a 2000 file format.
Click to expand...

Yes. All the versions you listed can use an Access 2000 MDB.
Can a company purchase prior versions (Access 2003) so that a
program need not be upgraded to 2007?
Click to expand...

Microsoft does support down-grading 2007 to 2003, if you have a special need
to do that.

Now that SP1 for Office 2007 has been released, I don't see a need to do
that unless your company has some peculiar need/policy.
What are the issues/implications?
Click to expand...

To develop for multiple versions of Access, you develop in Access 2000, so
you don't use any features of later versions, so you don't have problems
with corrupted binary, and so you can release the MDE in 2000 format.

Of course, you split the database, so the back end is an Access 2000 MDB,
and the front end is an Access 2000 MDE. (Using the MDE for the front end
ensures it does not decompile.)

In general, Access is very good at providing backwards compatibility. There
are some issues, e.g. A2007 yields #Error for a text box bound to:
=[Form].[Recordset].][RecordCount]
For a list of such issues, see:
http://allenbrowne.com/Access2007.html#Compatibility
 
Allen said:
Of course, you split the database, so the back end is an Access 2000
MDB, and the front end is an Access 2000 MDE. (Using the MDE for the
front end ensures it does not decompile.)
Click to expand...

Alternatively, I've had excellent success with developing in higher versions
of Access (but in 2000 format) and then distributing the databases in a
fully DEcompiled state. Access' compiler is fast enough that you usually
won't notice a difference, and allowing the native app to compile on-demand
seems to help with some STRANGE compatibility issues that I've seen from
time-to-time. (App working fine on one machine, but not on another;
recompile without changing a thing and it works fine on both...?!?)

This is only useful if you're using MDB or ADP format, though, not MDE/ADE.


Rob
 
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