Access 2003 runtime

[codistic]

I have an Access 2003 VBA app that I want to install; along with this
app, for computers without Access already installed, I plan to install
the Access 2003 runtime.
I seek advice on a couple of points regarding computers with Access
already installed:
1) Will installing the Access 2003 runtime interfere with the existing
Access installation? If so, how can I avoid this conflict? Registry
entries?
2) If I don't install the runtime, can I expect my app to run correctly
with an existing installation of Access other than 2003? If not, is
there around this? For example, if my app were upgraded to a more
recent version, would I expect better results?

If there's a better forum for this query, please advise.

Thanks for you help.
Geoff

 

[Stefan Hoffmann]

hi Geoff,

I seek advice on a couple of points regarding computers with Access
already installed:
1) Will installing the Access 2003 runtime interfere with the existing
Access installation? If so, how can I avoid this conflict? Registry
entries?

Never tested it. I would assume that the ACCRT setup is smart enough to
handle it by itself.

2) If I don't install the runtime, can I expect my app to run correctly
with an existing installation of Access other than 2003?

Yes, if you only use the subset of features of all versions. Thus means
developing using Access 97...

For example, if my app were upgraded to a more
recent version, would I expect better results?

You should explicitly define the targets and create a native .mdb/.mde
for it.


mfG
--> stefan <--

 

[bcap]

I have an Access 2003 VBA app that I want to install; along with this app,
for computers without Access already installed, I plan to install the
Access 2003 runtime.
I seek advice on a couple of points regarding computers with Access
already installed:
1) Will installing the Access 2003 runtime interfere with the existing
Access installation? If so, how can I avoid this conflict? Registry
entries?

Yes it will interfere. When you launch your application using the Access
2003 runtime, it will change the file associations for Access file types
(mdb, mde etc.). If the user then opens a different Access file without
first running their full version of Access, it will try to open using the
Access 2003 runtime.

The registry keys which control this are in HKCR. For example, for mdb
files it's HKCR\.mdb where you will see a default value of
Access.Application.<version>, where <version> is an integer.

12 = 2007
11 = 2003
10 = 2002

And so on.

You can capture this before your application runs and pass it into your app
(e.g. by having your application launched from a vbscript which reads this
value and passes it into your app using the /cmd switch). Then, in your
app's startup code, you can set it back to whatever it was originally. Note
that you can't capture the original value from inside your app, because by
then it will already have changed to 11.

 

[bcap]

Incidentally, I should have mentioned that there is no way to prevent an
Office installation window appearing when you switch between versions. When
switching between 2003 and earlier versions this is merely irritating, but
when switching between 2003 and 2007 it's a royal pain in the ass because it
takes so looooooooonnnnnnngggggg. It's a lot better since SP1 (before that
it could take 5 minutes to switch versions), but it can still take a minute
or two.

In my opinion this renders the Access runtime unusable unless you can be
sure in advance that no other version of Access is installed. In your case,
you are distributing the Access 2003 runtime, so users who already have 2007
installed will hit this problem. Same problem in reverse for anyone
distributing the 2007 runtime.

 

[codistic]

I'm unclear as to when this switching between versions takes place. At
install time? At run time?
It sounds from your previous msg as if, if my installer restores the
pertinent registry settings, existing Access will work as before, and I
open my app through a shortcut that specifies my ACCRT. True? What am
I missing (I'm undoubtedly missing anything)?

 

[bcap]

If you run Access 2003 (runtime or full version), and then run Access 2007,
the installation takes place. Same thing going the other way (but quicker).
It happens when you run Access, not when you install it i.e. if you use
Access a lot, it happens a lot!

If you maintain the registry settings as I suggested then yes, the existing
Access version will work as before, but this slow installation will still
run every time the version of Access you run is different to the version you
ran previously.