Compatibility issues

[Eric G]

I took my Access 2000 db in to a school last week as a demo.
The V.P.'s notebook was using Access 2003.
Access 2003 complained when it tried to load the .mde file, prompting
for this that and the other before outright refusing to load the file.

Is there any secret I should know about to get around this problem?

I just find it hard to believe that a program written by company M is
deliberately programmed to be incompatible with its own previous
version.

Eric G

[David W. Fenton]

Er***@ether.net (Eric G) wrote in
news:40*************@news1.on.sympatico.ca:

I took my Access 2000 db in to a school last week as a demo.
The V.P.'s notebook was using Access 2003.
Access 2003 complained when it tried to load the .mde file,
prompting for this that and the other before outright refusing to
load the file.

Is there any secret I should know about to get around this
problem?

I just find it hard to believe that a program written by company M
is deliberately programmed to be incompatible with its own
previous version.

MDE files have never been backwardly compatible.

If you look up in the help file and understand what an MDE file
really is, perhaps it will become clear to you why this is so.

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

[Deano]

Eric G wrote:

I took my Access 2000 db in to a school last week as a demo.
The V.P.'s notebook was using Access 2003.
Access 2003 complained when it tried to load the .mde file, prompting
for this that and the other before outright refusing to load the file.

Is there any secret I should know about to get around this problem?

I just find it hard to believe that a program written by company M is
deliberately programmed to be incompatible with its own previous
version.

Eric G

Access is a little bit different to other MS file formats.
If you do your research on MDEs this should be made clear.

I'm surprised though that you would do a demo in this way. I too work in
schools and if I ever do a demo I bring my own hardware and make sure
everything is tested. There's nothing quite so unprofessional as wasting a
client's time.
If they buy in then they will use my app using the Access runtime which
works nicely, 95% of the time.

[Eric G]

>

MDE files have never been backwardly compatible.

If you look up in the help file and understand what an MDE file
really is, perhaps it will become clear to you why this is so.

Thanks Dave.

[Eric G]

On Tue, 1 Jun 2004 21:29:47 +0100, "Deano" <de*********@hotmail.com>
wrote:

Access is a little bit different to other MS file formats.
If you do your research on MDEs this should be made clear.
Thanks I'll read up on MDE's and why they are treated differently.
I'm surprised though that you would do a demo in this way. I too work in
schools and if I ever do a demo I bring my own hardware and make sure
everything is tested. There's nothing quite so unprofessional as wasting a
client's time.
I had asked here in other newsgroups what precautions I could take to
safeguard my code when delivering a demo. I don't use Access security
and some Access MVP's frown on the false sense of security it
provides.

The only really practical suggestion made, that I could implement, was
to change the code to an .mde file so the form/reports code couldn't
be viewed/changed.

I don't have a notebook that I could use at this time to demo the
code.
Fortunately the school had Access 2003, 2000, and '97 on various
computers so we just moved from the V.P.'s office to another computer,
but for a minute though it was a bit tense.If they buy in then they will use my app using the Access runtime which
works nicely, 95% of the time.

If I'm not mistaken isn't having runtime capability close to $1000?
Would you provide a runtime version even if the school had Access and
if so why? Can run-times be split and put on various front-ends?
Any other advantages to using runtimes?

Thanks for helping out! Eric

[Deano]

Eric G wrote:

On Tue, 1 Jun 2004 21:29:47 +0100, "Deano" <de*********@hotmail.com>
wrote:
<snipped>

I had asked here in other newsgroups what precautions I could take to
safeguard my code when delivering a demo. I don't use Access security
and some Access MVP's frown on the false sense of security it
provides.
Hmmm. Well my app doesn't have Access workgroup security for a good reason
i.e I need to allow users to perform data backups to a separate mdb. This
involves changing permissons in code which can be complex. I have an idea
how to do this now but it will be a while til it's done.

Having said that if you have read and understood the Access Security FAQ
then there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to secure the objects in
the mdb/mde if needed. I think alot of comment here suggests that the
security measures are overkill or simply not required. From my point of
view it's a nice thing to have.


I don't have a notebook that I could use at this time to demo the
code.
Fortunately the school had Access 2003, 2000, and '97 on various
computers so we just moved from the V.P.'s office to another computer,
but for a minute though it was a bit tense.

If they buy in then they will use my app using the Access runtime
which works nicely, 95% of the time.
If I'm not mistaken isn't having runtime capability close to $1000?
Would you provide a runtime version even if the school had Access and
if so why? Can run-times be split and put on various front-ends?
Any other advantages to using runtimes?

When you throw everything in that you need, Office Developer edition, a
decent runtime and any other tools you might need then sure the expense will
grow. But really it's worth it.
It should be noted that it won't work all the time - I have had issues using
the Sagekey runtime, the latest of which is compatibility with Access 2003.
Sagekey are pretty good at working out the issues but the idea that the
runtime you use will always work on any given machine regardless of what
installed on it is a pipe dream - unfortunately.

The idea of using a runtime is that you provide an environment that is solid
and stable that will definitely run your database. Also the school or
organisation in question does not need any version of Access to run it.
And the most important point is that even with a version of Access that
proves suitable it may not be configured correctly i.e references may not be
set up that you have set up on your machine. So it will break.
If you can get the runtime installed and working correctly on the target pc
then your database will ALWAYS run.

And yes you can have a FE/BE arrangement using the runtime.

The bottom line is that it's alot more professional when you are selling an
app based on Access and don't know what software the target pc has. I do
know of a company that sells a package based on Access 97 that require the
user to have that Access version installed! Absolutely crazy and I have
seen it foul up many pcs.
Thanks for helping out! Eric

Good luck!

[Eric G]

Thanks very much Deano for this information. I really appreciate it.

Eric
On Thu, 3 Jun 2004 16:52:58 +0100, "Deano" <de*********@hotmail.com>
wrote:

Eric G wrote:

On Tue, 1 Jun 2004 21:29:47 +0100, "Deano" <de*********@hotmail.com>
wrote:

<snipped>

I had asked here in other newsgroups what precautions I could take to
safeguard my code when delivering a demo. I don't use Access security
and some Access MVP's frown on the false sense of security it
provides.

Hmmm. Well my app doesn't have Access workgroup security for a good reason
i.e I need to allow users to perform data backups to a separate mdb. This
involves changing permissons in code which can be complex. I have an idea
how to do this now but it will be a while til it's done.

Having said that if you have read and understood the Access Security FAQ
then there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to secure the objects in
the mdb/mde if needed. I think alot of comment here suggests that the
security measures are overkill or simply not required. From my point of
view it's a nice thing to have.

I don't have a notebook that I could use at this time to demo the
code.
Fortunately the school had Access 2003, 2000, and '97 on various
computers so we just moved from the V.P.'s office to another computer,
but for a minute though it was a bit tense.

If they buy in then they will use my app using the Access runtime
which works nicely, 95% of the time.

If I'm not mistaken isn't having runtime capability close to $1000?
Would you provide a runtime version even if the school had Access and
if so why? Can run-times be split and put on various front-ends?
Any other advantages to using runtimes?

When you throw everything in that you need, Office Developer edition, a
decent runtime and any other tools you might need then sure the expense will
grow. But really it's worth it.
It should be noted that it won't work all the time - I have had issues using
the Sagekey runtime, the latest of which is compatibility with Access 2003.
Sagekey are pretty good at working out the issues but the idea that the
runtime you use will always work on any given machine regardless of what
installed on it is a pipe dream - unfortunately.

The idea of using a runtime is that you provide an environment that is solid
and stable that will definitely run your database. Also the school or
organisation in question does not need any version of Access to run it.
And the most important point is that even with a version of Access that
proves suitable it may not be configured correctly i.e references may not be
set up that you have set up on your machine. So it will break.
If you can get the runtime installed and working correctly on the target pc
then your database will ALWAYS run.

And yes you can have a FE/BE arrangement using the runtime.

The bottom line is that it's alot more professional when you are selling an
app based on Access and don't know what software the target pc has. I do
know of a company that sells a package based on Access 97 that require the
user to have that Access version installed! Absolutely crazy and I have
seen it foul up many pcs.

Thanks for helping out! Eric

Good luck!