Access Runtime Files

[honeybee]

I have just heard about these files. Are there any such files? If yes, how do I identify them?

[Farm Flies]

You need to buy Microsofts Office Developer Edition "ODE"
to create your run time..there is a wizard to make your setup installation. So just let the wizard do it.

[honeybee]

No, I meant are there any files that we need to include in a VB project based on Access, sothat the application runs fine? And I am not referring to DAOs.

[Farm Flies]

If you are making a runtime and the application uses VB 6 and Access let the wizard in ODE create all the files for you. You may need to do each one seperate at first and then use the VB to include the Access files dll's etc when you package up your set up for the application.

[honeybee]

I got the idea, thanks.

Now another question is do I have to have these runtimes in my VB project in order to access the MDB files, or will the DAO do the job?

[Farm Flies]

Your development enviroment is different from ours so I'm not sure! We are using DOA only for one small task with the Access MDE files. We are distributing an Access Runtime version because most of our Menus, forms etc. were developed in Access and VBA and SQL. We also use an ISAM hookup to FoxPro DBF's and import and export data from them back and forth from Access.

I was under the impression that in order to distribute a Microsoft Access database that you had to have a copy of the Office Developers Addition "ODE" Tools, and this let's you create the files necessary. However this may only apply to Runtime Versions, like we are using.

[P.S.W.]

honeybee,

I believe the Access Runtime file is simply a "viewer", if you will, to allow users who don't have Access installed to still use an application developed from _within_ Access. In other words, its a stripped down version of Access that allows you to use existing Access creations but doesn't let you make them.

If your project was developed from within VB and only uses an .mdb as a back-end to store tables, you shouldn't need it.

[honeybee]

That's re-assuring, P.S.W.

We are facing a lot of problems in terms of installing the software on a target PC. That's when we thought of the Access runtime files. And I just wanted to know if the problems were related to these runtimes.

It now seems that these two are not related, and we have overcome most of the problems, too. But the knowledge is quite worthwhile. I may try it if I decide to develop something purely in Access.

Thanks, guys.