Distribution and installation of an application

[salad]

Hi. I have some questions regarding the distribution and installation
of an application.

My current application is written in A97. I figure its time the
application is upgraded to A2003 to remove potential installation
problems in the future.

I have seen references to SageKey and Wise. Are Sage and Wise and
single, unique development tool or are they separate applications? Are
they the best tools to use when distributing an Access application?
What about InstallShield? Other recommendations?

What are Wise scripts? Do the scripts only work with the SageKey products?

When distributing the app, does one have and option for multiple
installation types? Let me give you some examples.

1) The app has both a front end and a backend. The front end goes onto
the user's computer, the back end onto the network. I wouldn't want the
back end to be installed each time since it would overwrite any data
that currently exists in the existing backend. Can the user select to
install the front end, the back end, or both? Or do you create an
installation for the backend and an installation for the front end?

2) The user has A2003 on his computer. Can he install just the
front/back end without the need to install the runtime? If not, does
installing the runtime conflict with the existing copy of Access?

3) The user upgrades his Office copy to Office 2007 prior to installing
my application will that create any possible conflicts with associated
DLLs, etc? Or will there be any conflicts with prior Office versions if
they are installed on the user's computer?

4) I will be distrubuting some Word templates too and a PDF writer
program. Can they be installed separately or can I include/exclude them
during the installation process depending on a user's choice if the
person needs to reinstall the application?

Where are the runtime files installed? Are they installed in
C:\ProgramFiles or are they installed in the folder where the Access
application resides?

I plan on having security implemented. The main reason so I know who
the person is that is logged in to the application. Is there a way to
create a security record or an employee record...and other
records...from data gathered from the installation process?

How does one get it set up so that the application uses the correct
workgroup file? Are desktop icons created for the app for
Sage/InstallShield?

I know there are other things I should be asking questions about but
since I don't know what they are this should be sufficient.

Thanks

[Rick Brandt]

salad wrote:

Hi. I have some questions regarding the distribution and installation
of an application.

My current application is written in A97. I figure its time the
application is upgraded to A2003 to remove potential installation
problems in the future.

I have seen references to SageKey and Wise. Are Sage and Wise and
single, unique development tool or are they separate applications? Are they
the best tools to use when distributing an Access
application? What about InstallShield? Other recommendations?

What are Wise scripts? Do the scripts only work with the SageKey
products?
When distributing the app, does one have and option for multiple
installation types? Let me give you some examples.

1) The app has both a front end and a backend. The front end goes
onto the user's computer, the back end onto the network. I wouldn't
want the back end to be installed each time since it would overwrite
any data that currently exists in the existing backend. Can the user select
to
install the front end, the back end, or both? Or do you create an
installation for the backend and an installation for the front end?

2) The user has A2003 on his computer. Can he install just the
front/back end without the need to install the runtime? If not, does
installing the runtime conflict with the existing copy of Access?

3) The user upgrades his Office copy to Office 2007 prior to
installing my application will that create any possible conflicts with
associated
DLLs, etc? Or will there be any conflicts with prior Office versions
if they are installed on the user's computer?

4) I will be distrubuting some Word templates too and a PDF writer
program. Can they be installed separately or can I include/exclude
them during the installation process depending on a user's choice if
the person needs to reinstall the application?

Where are the runtime files installed? Are they installed in
C:\ProgramFiles or are they installed in the folder where the Access
application resides?

I plan on having security implemented. The main reason so I know who
the person is that is logged in to the application. Is there a way to
create a security record or an employee record...and other
records...from data gathered from the installation process?

How does one get it set up so that the application uses the correct
workgroup file? Are desktop icons created for the app for
Sage/InstallShield?

I know there are other things I should be asking questions about but
since I don't know what they are this should be sufficient.

Thanks

[Rick Brandt]

salad wrote:

Hi. I have some questions regarding the distribution and installation
of an application.

My current application is written in A97. I figure its time the
application is upgraded to A2003 to remove potential installation
problems in the future.

I have seen references to SageKey and Wise. Are Sage and Wise and
single, unique development tool or are they separate applications? Are they
the best tools to use when distributing an Access
application? What about InstallShield? Other recommendations?

These are not development tools. They are programs that create setup or
installer programs for your application. Mind you, for Access they only
facilitate the installation of the Access runtime (if that is what you want to
use), but they do not come with the runtime or provide the license to distribute
it. YOu have to purchase that from Micorsfot separately. These tools just
provide more powerful and flexible wasy to install your app.

What are Wise scripts? Do the scripts only work with the SageKey
products?

I have only heard of Agekey scripts and these control how your app is installed.
For Access, Sagekey scripts make the runtime install less apt to interfer with
existing software (like other versions of Access).

When distributing the app, does one have and option for multiple
installation types? Let me give you some examples.

Most all provide this.

1) The app has both a front end and a backend. The front end goes
onto the user's computer, the back end onto the network. I wouldn't
want the back end to be installed each time since it would overwrite
any data that currently exists in the existing backend. Can the user select
to
install the front end, the back end, or both? Or do you create an
installation for the backend and an installation for the front end?

You can specify whether files are overwritten, but normally you would not
install a network back end with the same install program as a client front end.
These would be separate setup programs.

2) The user has A2003 on his computer. Can he install just the
front/back end without the need to install the runtime? If not, does
installing the runtime conflict with the existing copy of Access?

For users that already have Access you would not want your installer to include
the runtime.

3) The user upgrades his Office copy to Office 2007 prior to
installing my application will that create any possible conflicts with
associated
DLLs, etc? Or will there be any conflicts with prior Office versions
if they are installed on the user's computer?

The depends entirely on whether your app has outside DLL dependencies. You
should make every effort to see that it does not.

4) I will be distrubuting some Word templates too and a PDF writer
program. Can they be installed separately or can I include/exclude
them during the installation process depending on a user's choice if
the person needs to reinstall the application?

Most installers would allow for a menu or Checkboxes to provide those choices ot
the user.

Where are the runtime files installed? Are they installed in
C:\ProgramFiles or are they installed in the folder where the Access
application resides?

Not sure about the newer versions. The 97 runtime was installed in an "Office"
folder that would be located inside the application folder.

I plan on having security implemented. The main reason so I know who
the person is that is logged in to the application. Is there a way to
create a security record or an employee record...and other
records...from data gathered from the installation process?

Not that I know of. The setup program might be able to ask for that and write
it out to an INI file or similar and then your program can retrieve it from
there.

How does one get it set up so that the application uses the correct
workgroup file? Are desktop icons created for the app for
Sage/InstallShield?

The setup program should allow you to create whatever shortcuts you need and the
one for your app can specify the workgroup file.
--
Rick Brandt, Microsoft Access MVP
Email (as appropriate) to...
RBrandt at Hunter dot com