Standalone database app

  • Thread starter Thread starter William Jewell
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William Jewell

Hi All,

I read today's emails from "cr", "Paul Overway" and "Rick
Brandt" concerning runtime applications made by Microsoft
Developer. You guys sure made my day - NOT. I purchased
Office XP Developer for precisely the reason that I did
not know what version of Access the target computer might
have or if it had Access at all. I think I understand the
problems you are describing but have a question.

I am currently running both Office97 and OfficeXP on the
same computer. I made sure that, before installing
OfficeXP, I renamed all the programs in Office97 with
a "97" suffix (ie: Access97). I have had no problems
using this approach and can easily use programs in either
version. I have created a .mde application in AccessXP
and used OfficeXP Developer to create a runtime version.
If someone has an earlier version of Access, will
renaming all the Office programs BEFORE installing the XP
runtime eliminate the problem you are describing? I sure
hope so as I have tried to do all I can to insure my app
does not foul up someone's machine. I did contact Sage
and expect to purchase software in future but funds are
currently limited.

Thank you for any feedback.

William
 
No....you may still end up hosing your customer's PC. The run-time will
take all the file associations related to Access...so, they can't just
double click on an MDB expecting the correct version of Access to open...the
run-time may open or their pre-existing version Access, depending on which
was run last.

The problem is related to Microsoft installer for the run-time.

Also, note the numerous issues with PDW. It is not too smart in determining
whether your app has been installed previously...so, your customer could
install repeatedly and have multiple (orphaned) instances of your program in
Add/Remove Programs. It doesn't know where the run-time got installed, so,
you can't reliably use explicit shortcuts pointing to your run-time. Etc,
etc, etc.
 
William Jewell said:
Hi All,

I read today's emails from "cr", "Paul Overway" and "Rick
Brandt" concerning runtime applications made by Microsoft
Developer. You guys sure made my day - NOT. I purchased
Office XP Developer for precisely the reason that I did
not know what version of Access the target computer might
have or if it had Access at all. I think I understand the
problems you are describing but have a question.

I am currently running both Office97 and OfficeXP on the
same computer. I made sure that, before installing
OfficeXP, I renamed all the programs in Office97 with
a "97" suffix (ie: Access97). I have had no problems
using this approach and can easily use programs in either
version. I have created a .mde application in AccessXP
and used OfficeXP Developer to create a runtime version.
If someone has an earlier version of Access, will
renaming all the Office programs BEFORE installing the XP
runtime eliminate the problem you are describing? I sure
hope so as I have tried to do all I can to insure my app
does not foul up someone's machine. I did contact Sage
and expect to purchase software in future but funds are
currently limited.
Click to expand...

The user is going to be willing to let you rename all of his Office
executables? Are you then going to find every shortcut on his PC that
points to the old names of the executables and change those as well? What
happens when he double-clicks an mdb file and Windows tries to open it with
the version of Access originally installed on his PC? It will either
report that it cannot find the associated program or it will attempt to
open it with your Runtime version of XP. As you should well know, you
can't just open "any old" mdb with the Runtime. The application has to be
configured with a complete interface because the Runtime allows no access
to the standard menus, toolbars, and the db Window. Not to mention the
fact that your XP Runtime will likely want to convert the file or will
raise an error because it cannot convert it.

The most common issue with multiple versions on the same PC is that each
one changes registry settings when it is launched to make itself the
"registered" version of Access on the PC. So double-clicking a file will
cause Windows to attempt opening it with whatever was the last version of
Access that was used. So he runs your app and then the next time he
double-clicks a 97 version file it tries to use your Runtime and doesn't
work. If he opens Access 97 first and then tells it to open a specific
file, no problem. If you can train the user in this regard and he is OK
with that then maybe it's no big deal.

I have some internal users with this situation and I have basically
instructed them that they should never open an Access file by
double-clicking it, but rather open the Access window first and then point
to the file from there. You can also create shortcuts for specific files
that includes the path to the correct Access executable in the command
line.

Another problem with your renaming strategy is that if the user reinstalls
Office for any reason all of the executable names will be restored to what
they were originally.
 
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