Possible to hide code outside the mdb and use this code?

[Arno R]

Hi all,

Is it possible to 'hide' code (e.g. in a mde) and to use this in app.mdb?

Reason for asking:
I have made some of the applications a client (health-care organisation) works with.
My applications are usually mde's (Access '97 and up) or secured mdb's (Access 2.0)
I want to secure the code and I also don't want clients to be able to 'mess up' applications I made.

The organisation also uses 'own' mdb's. They work A LOT with Access.
Now they ask me to enhance one of 'their' mdb's. (A2k)
They want far more features than they can accomplish themselves.
I can use some of my usual code-routines for this task but don't want all of this code to be visible
for them.

Client persists in getting an mdb, because they want to be able to make changes themselves again
afterwards.
I want to protect at least some of my 'routines'. How? What is the best approach here?

Maybe I could use a code.mde as add-in or something alike ?

TIA
Arno R

[Tom van Stiphout]

On Fri, 14 Nov 2003 14:00:09 +0100, "Arno R"
<ar****************@tiscali.nl> wrote:

Indeed you can.
However, check with the client first. Since they obviously want source
code, they may not want you to "hide" code. They may rather want to
buy your source code as a library.

-Tom.

Hi all,

Is it possible to 'hide' code (e.g. in a mde) and to use this in app.mdb?

Reason for asking:
I have made some of the applications a client (health-care organisation) works with.
My applications are usually mde's (Access '97 and up) or secured mdb's (Access 2.0)
I want to secure the code and I also don't want clients to be able to 'mess up' applications I made.

The organisation also uses 'own' mdb's. They work A LOT with Access.
Now they ask me to enhance one of 'their' mdb's. (A2k)
They want far more features than they can accomplish themselves.
I can use some of my usual code-routines for this task but don't want all of this code to be visible
for them.

Client persists in getting an mdb, because they want to be able to make changes themselves again
afterwards.
I want to protect at least some of my 'routines'. How? What is the best approach here?

Maybe I could use a code.mde as add-in or something alike ?

TIA
Arno R

[Terry Kreft]

You can have code libraries which are external to the current mdb.

.... But I would agree with Tom van Stiphout that you need to clarify with
the customer exactly what they are getting and whether they want to own the
source code or are willing to let you retain ownership.

Terry
"Arno R" <ar****************@tiscali.nl> wrote in message
news:3f**********************@dreader2.news.tiscal i.nl...

Hi all,

Is it possible to 'hide' code (e.g. in a mde) and to use this in app.mdb?

Reason for asking:
I have made some of the applications a client (health-care organisation) works with. My applications are usually mde's (Access '97 and up) or secured mdb's (Access 2.0) I want to secure the code and I also don't want clients to be able to 'mess up' applications I made.
The organisation also uses 'own' mdb's. They work A LOT with Access.
Now they ask me to enhance one of 'their' mdb's. (A2k)
They want far more features than they can accomplish themselves.
I can use some of my usual code-routines for this task but don't want all of this code to be visible for them.

Client persists in getting an mdb, because they want to be able to make changes themselves again afterwards.
I want to protect at least some of my 'routines'. How? What is the best approach here?
Maybe I could use a code.mde as add-in or something alike ?

TIA
Arno R

[Arno R]

Thanks Tom and Terry for your reply's.

You can have code libraries which are external to the current mdb. I thought it must be possible indeed but ...
How to create/ use them? I never did this before ...
Where can I find more and explicit info on this? Any examples?
... But I would agree with Tom van Stiphout that you need to clarify with
the customer exactly what they are getting and whether they want to own the
source code or are willing to let you retain ownership.

Customer said this afternoon that they don't need to own the sourcecode
but want to be able to modify the mdb when they think they need to.

Arno R

[David W. Fenton]

ar****************@tiscali.nl (Arno R) wrote in
<3f**********************@dreader2.news.tiscali.nl >:

... But I would agree with Tom van Stiphout that you need to
clarify with the customer exactly what they are getting and
whether they want to own the source code or are willing to let
you retain ownership.

Customer said this afternoon that they don't need to own the
sourcecode but want to be able to modify the mdb when they think
they need to.

I had a contract that the client eventually walked away from that
specified that I'd provide a perpetual license to use my code
library MDE with this one application and that I'd provide a help
file documenting the interface to all the functionality in that
library. It never got finished because of a management change, so I
never ended up creating the help file.

But the principle was this:

1. the client would have full control of the front end code.

2. any dependencies on library code would be documented in terms of
what they did and what interface they had.

The latter would allow any developer who came in after me to modify
the code they owned to understand how my code worked and replace it
if he wanted to do so.

--
David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton
dfenton at bway dot net http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc

[Terry Kreft]

A fair agreement it seems to me.

I tend to find that people tend to get a bit freaky when dealing with a one
man shop, therefore I'm not too concerned with whether they have the source
code or not.

Having said that the UK tends to be s bit less litiginous than, say, the US
so it's easier to be relaxed about such things over here.

Terry

"David W. Fenton" <dX********@bway.net.invalid> wrote in message
news:94***************************@24.168.128.78.. .

ar****************@tiscali.nl (Arno R) wrote in
<3f**********************@dreader2.news.tiscali.nl >:

... But I would agree with Tom van Stiphout that you need to
clarify with the customer exactly what they are getting and
whether they want to own the source code or are willing to let
you retain ownership.

Customer said this afternoon that they don't need to own the
sourcecode but want to be able to modify the mdb when they think
they need to.

I had a contract that the client eventually walked away from that
specified that I'd provide a perpetual license to use my code
library MDE with this one application and that I'd provide a help
file documenting the interface to all the functionality in that
library. It never got finished because of a management change, so I
never ended up creating the help file.

But the principle was this:

1. the client would have full control of the front end code.

2. any dependencies on library code would be documented in terms of
what they did and what interface they had.

The latter would allow any developer who came in after me to modify
the code they owned to understand how my code worked and replace it
if he wanted to do so.

--
David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton
dfenton at bway dot net http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc