Distributing Access run-time

[summerwind]

I wonder if someone can help me please.

I have developed apps for small business on a bespoke basis for a long
time. I have usually gone along to the client to install the apps. My
client base was such that they usually had Access pre-installed on
their machines before I arrived.

Over the last year I discovered a hole in a niche market and developed
an off-the shelf app that cutomers can buy.

My problem now is that some customers do not have any version of
Access. I therefore have used the packaging wizard to send run-time
Access with a demo of my app. However, run-time often doesn't install
and I am losing customers.

Apparently the packaging wizard that comes with Developer edition is
notoriously cra* so I obtained a copy of Installer2Go.

My question now is: what files do I need to include so that Run-time
Access will install, or where will I find the info I need?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Steve Jorgensen]

Actually, what you wanted to buy was either Wise or Installshield, and the
Sagekey scripts for whichever one of those you got. Trying to get everything
right without using Sagekey is just plain massochism.

Note that Sagekey has their own version of the MS Access runtime package you
can include that's supposed to let you deploy an unsigned Access application
without the user getting the security warning, but this breaks when new
automatic updates are installed from MS, so you pretty much have no choice but
to purchase a registered signature from someone like Verisign, and digitally
sign your application before you deliver it.

On 24 Oct 2005 07:59:25 -0700, "summerwind " <su************ *@btinternet.co m>
wrote:

I wonder if someone can help me please.

I have developed apps for small business on a bespoke basis for a long
time. I have usually gone along to the client to install the apps. My
client base was such that they usually had Access pre-installed on
their machines before I arrived.

Over the last year I discovered a hole in a niche market and developed
an off-the shelf app that cutomers can buy.

My problem now is that some customers do not have any version of
Access. I therefore have used the packaging wizard to send run-time
Access with a demo of my app. However, run-time often doesn't install
and I am losing customers.

Apparently the packaging wizard that comes with Developer edition is
notoriously cra* so I obtained a copy of Installer2Go.

My question now is: what files do I need to include so that Run-time
Access will install, or where will I find the info I need?

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Albert D. Kallal]

>digitally
sign your application before you deliver it.

Well, you can also have your install set the macro security to low, and then
no nags will appear...

Since most of my clients run some type of virus protection, then this low
setting is not normally a problem....
Albert D. Kallal (Access MVP)
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
pl************* ****@msn.com
http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal

[Steve Jorgensen]

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 18:59:46 GMT, "Albert D. Kallal" <ka****@msn.com > wrote:

digitally

sign your application before you deliver it.

Well, you can also have your install set the macro security to low, and then
no nags will appear...

Since most of my clients run some type of virus protection, then this low
setting is not normally a problem....

I'm not comfortable telling a customer that to run my application, they have
to change a setting in MS Access. For a run-time app, the customer should not
even have to know whether the app has anything to do with MS Access. Besides
that, the client may have a lot of trouble changing that setting!

If a client has MS Access 2002 and has Windows auto-update turned on, a JET
update will be installed that requires setting Macro Security to something
other than maximum to be able to open an unsigned Access application at all,
but unless they also know to manually install the latest service pack for
Office XP, they will not have the menu item to change the setting!

Next, you try to walk them through installing that MS Office update, and even
if they choose the option that's not supposed to need the original MS Office
CD, 3 out of 4 times, it will ask anyway, and fail if the CD is not provided.
Most business users have quite an ordeal trying to get ahold of the right CD -
in fact, IT is frequently unable to locate the right one, and can only get the
office update to install by removing and reinstalling MS Office using the CD
they -do- have.

[Albert D. Kallal]

Fair enough.

however, I include the settings in my access 2003 runtime install script to
set macro security, and I never had a problem, nor had a nag prompt
appear.....

So, I do set this stuff in my install scripts.

For a2003, I not had a problem yet. And, in fact, a2003 was likely the FIRST
version of access I have EVER used that you can run without any SP updates
installed. I could not even do that with a97!!

So, I had great luck with my a2003 runtimes. However, I do wrap my installs
in a innno script, and even my front end updates do set the macro stuff
during install....

I not seen a problem crop up yet....

--
Albert D. Kallal (Access MVP)
Edmonton, Alberta Canada
pl************* ****@msn.com
http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal

[Steve Jorgensen]

On Wed, 26 Oct 2005 01:36:35 GMT, "Albert D. Kallal" <ka****@msn.com > wrote:

Fair enough.

however, I include the settings in my access 2003 runtime install script to
set macro security, and I never had a problem, nor had a nag prompt
appear.....
Sagekey does the same thing, and a recent MS update changes it back. I've had
users fix it by uninstalling the Access runtime, then reinstalling the app
from the CD to get the runtime reinstalled with the right setting.
So, I do set this stuff in my install scripts.

For a2003, I not had a problem yet. And, in fact, a2003 was likely the FIRST
version of access I have EVER used that you can run without any SP updates
installed. I could not even do that with a97!!

So, I had great luck with my a2003 runtimes. However, I do wrap my installs
in a innno script, and even my front end updates do set the macro stuff
during install....

I not seen a problem crop up yet....

I think I'm doing roughly what you are doing, and in the last 6 months, I've
had a lot of trouble.