As I understand it:
Ever since Access 97 and possibly before, if you had access and VBA, you
could add a number of Common Controls to your forms. Called common controls
(eg the dialog) because they came with every copy of Windows, everybody used
them, and Windows was virtualy useless without them. - One of the most useful
set of tools for your part time developer.
When Microsoft brought out Office XP or 2003 (no doubt someone has the exact
version), they decided that they didn't want ordinary mortals to be able to
use esoteric active x conrols like the "common" controls any more. This sort
of thing was to be for the cognicenti only (proper developers!)
If you want to build an application that allows the user to open a file,
this is now highly advanced, and you have to buy the developer version of
office, in order to get the 'design time' license. (Everyone has the run time
license or windows won't work).
Of course, you didn't know you needed the developer version, because the
simple task of opening a file really isn't very advanced, and it never
occured to you that common controls would be taken away on a whim.
But Microsoft do not offer a reasonable upgrade path to the developer
version, and to the best of my knowledge will not sell you a design time
licence for the common controls.
You can of course use the APIs (by which time you will be a developer
because they are so tricky, and will probably go and get the developer
version then have the common controls and not need to use the APIs any more.)
After all, you're not going to distribute the applciation outside of your own
homogeneous environment, so the strange nuances between versions won't hurt.
OR, you can simply add Excel to your references, from where a little
function called GetOpenFileName does the job nearly as well (And in my view
easier)
I have seen many statements from Microsoft the the effect that design time
licences for these control are no longer part of Access, but never an
explanation as to why they decided to cripple Office professional like this,
and what it will cost to buy a design time license for three simple .ocx
files (Perhaps they should call it Office 2003 semi professional. or
Professional "lite", or Office 2003 not very professional. or Functionally
challenged Office 2003 professional.
Maybe it came from the same think tank that hard coded Outlook 2003 to
download access files, but refuse to open them.
You could maybe do a web search for instrucions on how to turm your existing
control into design time licenses, but actually doing it is economically
legal.
