Force my Database to Open with Runtime Only

[sachuchem22]

I have created a simple databse in access 07 now I wan to open it with runtime only even if user having full version of access 07.how I do it. And i want to package and develop my databse with installer so which softwares are needed for it.

[Seth Schrock]

There are a couple of ways to do this. First, you can rename your file to have a .accdr file extension. Or you can create a shortcut to the database and change the target to be

"Path to Access" "Original target path" /Runtime

So an example would be (this is for Access 2010)

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14\MSACCESS.EXE" "C:\MyDatabase.accdb" /Runtime

[sachuchem22]

Thank for your response. Seth. . But these are easily undo by user so I want to permanently set db to open with runtime only.

[Seth Schrock]

There is nothing that can't be undone by the user. If you are just trying to protect the database from changes, then you can make the database into an executable file (.accde). It will still open using the full version of Access, but no design changes are allowed. You would need to keep the original file in case there are any bugs that need fixed, but you could just publish the executable file to everyone else.

[sachuchem22]

Ok and Thank you seth.....

[zmbd]

*.accde is mostly what I do when I need to protect the design. As Seth pointed out, and I cannot stress enough, make sure you keep a copy of the "development" database. We had an instance where someone "accidently" created the executable version using the only copy of the front-end database... and of course, years later changes needed to be done. Had to rebuild everything from scratch.

+ The downfall of the runtime environment is two fold in that you have to create all of the menus that you want the user to have AND all of your code must have proper error handling. While the latter is something that should be done as good coding practice, the former has become more difficult for the beginning to intermediate programmer with the advent of the "Ribbon" to replace the old menu/command-bars. The executable is a nice compromise with protecting the main interface as well as allowing the user to interact with the common Ribbon tools.