Access 2003 Run-Time

[Prakash]

I am developing an HR package under Access 2003 for a client but do not
want to give him the source code.

I understand that under these circumstances I would need to compile my
package, thus converting it into an MDE file. How do I go about doing
this & what would the client need to have installed on his PC ? i.e.
(Would the client need to have Access installed on his PC ?)

I currently own a copy of MS Office Professional Edition 2003.

A detailed explanation would be very much appreciated including what
other software I would need to procure & what would be the approximate
cost of it ?

Thx & Best Rgds,
Prakash.

[Rick Brandt]

Prakash wrote:

I am developing an HR package under Access 2003 for a client but do
not want to give him the source code.

I understand that under these circumstances I would need to compile my
package, thus converting it into an MDE file. How do I go about doing
this & what would the client need to have installed on his PC ? i.e.
(Would the client need to have Access installed on his PC ?)

I currently own a copy of MS Office Professional Edition 2003.

A detailed explanation would be very much appreciated including what
other software I would need to procure & what would be the approximate
cost of it ?

Thx & Best Rgds,
Prakash.

An MDE is nothing more than an MDB with the human readable source code
stripped out. One artifact of that is that all code based objects (forms,
reports, modules) cannot have their design altered or even viewed.

An MDE needs Access to be run just the same as an MDB does. Acquiring the
Developer's tools for Access that allow you to build and distribute a
royalty free runtime version of Access with your applications is a
completely different topic altogether from creating an MDE. They are
related only in that most people that distribute the runtime do so with an
MDE version of their file, but that is incidental and not a requirement.

If you are only concerned with people seeing your code or meddling with the
design it is far easier to just distribute MDEs and make the installation of
Access on the target PC a requirement of your application. Acquiring the
Developer's tools and distributing the runtime is neither trivial nor
inexpensive and really only "pays off" if you are distributing to a fairly
large number of users.

Note that an MDE does nothing to protect the viewing or changing of tables
and queries. For that you would have to go the additional step of applying
user level security (another non-trivial topic).

--
Rick Brandt, Microsoft Access MVP
Email (as appropriate) to...
RBrandt at Hunter dot com

[Albert D. Kallal]

I understand that under these circumstances I would need to compile my

package, thus converting it into an MDE file. How do I go about doing
this

easy as pie:

tools->database utilities->make mde file.

what would the client need to have installed on his PC ? i.e.
(Would the client need to have Access installed on his PC ?)

Yes. They need a version of ms-access installed. You can either have them
purchase ms-access, or YOU can purchase the runtime edition of ms-access.
The runtime can be installed in place of the full version of ms-access, and
thus any mdb, or mde they place on their computer will then run. Once you
purchased the runtime, you can distribute this for free, and the end user
does not have to purchase ms-access.

It is also assumed that you split your database, as else how will you issue
the many bug fixes and updates to your software that you surely will
requite. I explain the split process here:

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

[Prakash]

Rick & Albert ... A big thank you to you both ... Yes ... This
certainly solves my problem as this user has a copy of MS-Office
Professional on his PC.

Making the MDE does protect the code & that will suffice for the time
being.

However, if a user does not own a copy of MS-Access, then how do I
supply him with a run-time version. What would I have to purchase &
what would be the cost implications involved ?

Also ... Rick mentioned something about preventing a user from getting
to my table structures directly by using User-Level Security. I have a
couple of books on MS-Access and would love to read more about it.
Could you please point out which topics to read & any caveats to watch
out for ? Is it v.v.complicated ?

Thx & Best Rgds,
Prakash.



Albert D. Kallal wrote:

I understand that under these circumstances I would need to compile my
package, thus converting it into an MDE file. How do I go about doing
this

easy as pie:

tools->database utilities->make mde file.

what would the client need to have installed on his PC ? i.e.
(Would the client need to have Access installed on his PC ?)

Yes. They need a version of ms-access installed. You can either have them
purchase ms-access, or YOU can purchase the runtime edition of ms-access.
The runtime can be installed in place of the full version of ms-access, and
thus any mdb, or mde they place on their computer will then run. Once you
purchased the runtime, you can distribute this for free, and the end user
does not have to purchase ms-access.

It is also assumed that you split your database, as else how will you issue
the many bug fixes and updates to your software that you surely will
requite. I explain the split process here:

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

[Prakash]

Thx for the lovely detailed reply. It has certainly solved my immediate
problem. Please do read my reply under Albert's thread & guide me
further if possible.

Muchos Gracias & Best Rgds,
Prakash.


Rick Brandt wrote:

Prakash wrote:

I am developing an HR package under Access 2003 for a client but do
not want to give him the source code.

I understand that under these circumstances I would need to compile my
package, thus converting it into an MDE file. How do I go about doing
this & what would the client need to have installed on his PC ? i.e.
(Would the client need to have Access installed on his PC ?)

I currently own a copy of MS Office Professional Edition 2003.

A detailed explanation would be very much appreciated including what
other software I would need to procure & what would be the approximate
cost of it ?

Thx & Best Rgds,
Prakash.

An MDE is nothing more than an MDB with the human readable source code
stripped out. One artifact of that is that all code based objects (forms,
reports, modules) cannot have their design altered or even viewed.

An MDE needs Access to be run just the same as an MDB does. Acquiring the
Developer's tools for Access that allow you to build and distribute a
royalty free runtime version of Access with your applications is a
completely different topic altogether from creating an MDE. They are
related only in that most people that distribute the runtime do so with an
MDE version of their file, but that is incidental and not a requirement.

If you are only concerned with people seeing your code or meddling with the
design it is far easier to just distribute MDEs and make the installation of
Access on the target PC a requirement of your application. Acquiring the
Developer's tools and distributing the runtime is neither trivial nor
inexpensive and really only "pays off" if you are distributing to a fairly
large number of users.

Note that an MDE does nothing to protect the viewing or changing of tables
and queries. For that you would have to go the additional step of applying
user level security (another non-trivial topic).

--
Rick Brandt, Microsoft Access MVP
Email (as appropriate) to...
RBrandt at Hunter dot com

[Rick Brandt]

"Prakash" <si****@omantel .net.omwrote in message
news:11******** **************@ j44g2000cwa.goo glegroups.com.. .
[snip]

Making the MDE does protect the code & that will suffice for the time
being.

However, if a user does not own a copy of MS-Access, then how do I
supply him with a run-time version. What would I have to purchase &
what would be the cost implications involved ?

You would need to acquire the Developer's Tools for Access 2003. This requires
both the Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Office along with the Microsoft
Office Access 2003 Developer Extensions. I am not familair with the specifics
as I have only used the Developer's Tools for Access 97, but basically these
would allow you to build a custom installation propgram for your app that also
installs the Access Runtime. Purchase of these is also what gives you the
rights to legally distribute the runtime.

Also ... Rick mentioned something about preventing a user from getting
to my table structures directly by using User-Level Security. I have a
couple of books on MS-Access and would love to read more about it.
Could you please point out which topics to read & any caveats to watch
out for ? Is it v.v.complicated ?

I would suggest going to the microsoft.publi c.access.securi ty newsgroup and
reading for a while. In that process you will hopefully avoid the common
problems and misperceptions about how Access security works. It is somewhat
counter-intuitive and complex and nearly all who attempt it for the first time
using only the wizards and the help file fail to end up with a properly secured
file. Once you've dug deep enough though and it "clicks" it is not that
difficult.

Within many of those articles you will find links to web articles that provide
very specific step by step instructions. I recommend using one or more of those
(on test files) until you are comfortable with it.

Access security is breakable with tools easily available by those who know how
to use Google, but as barriers in Access go it is the best one you will be able
to come up with. There are also many obfuscation techniques that can be used
instead of or in addition to user level security. You should find references to
many of those in that forum as well.

--
Rick Brandt, Microsoft Access MVP
Email (as appropriate) to...
RBrandt at Hunter dot com