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My app can be installed on win2k and higher. I am switching from using files to an access database. I decided to use files a few yrs ago, because MDAC had too many issues and variables with deployment. Now I no longer have to worry about win 95, 98 only win2k and higher.
If my installer detects win2k how can i determine if mdac is installed ?. If it is not then shut down the installer and direct the user to install mdac_exe. Is this the correct way ?
I don't know if your installer offers a way to check, but MS provide this program to do it:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en
Note that the MDAC installer does the check too, so the simplest option would be to always try installing the latest version on 2k, and just live with the "already installed" warning if it is there.
Thank you for your reply. I ran the checker and here are the results:Quote:
Originally Posted by si_the_geek
Could i not just include the 13 dll's in my setup and they would not be installed if present. That would surely be easier than trying to determine if mdac is installed and direct the user to download and install mdac as a seperate process.
Or could i trap the error in w2k when they try to open the db. What error would they get? I could inform them and provide a link to download mdac.
Do not even think about installing those files separately - they are all part of the same installation package for a reason (they are interdependent, and in some cases may require other files too).
There is no need to make the user download MDAC, you can distribute it with your program.
It has been a long time since I got an error about a lack of MDAC, but I'm fairly sure that it is unclear, and not consistent either. Having an older version already installed is worse, as you are likely to get the program running for a while but with seemingly random errors in some of the parts of your program that work with databases (as the functionality within MDAC has changed over the many versions).
One way or another check which version is installed, and if needed install the version your program uses.
If your installer doesn't offer a way to check (some do), the easiest way to do it is to just run the MDAC installer anyway - and let the user know that the "already installed" message is fine.