Access Runtime & Stability

[J. Trucking]

Hello All,

I just have a quick question. I work for a company with an existing
access database that they use for their Work Order system. They've
had it for about 6-7 years and the company who built it for them has
since folded their tent and we're kind of out in the cold with it. It
hasn't been an issue yet but we're updating our computer systems and I
am just wondering the following:

1. We would like to avoid buying copies of Access for many of the
computers. I have heard of this "runtime" program which is free and
will allow data entry personell to enter information. We have copies
of Office 2003 and Office XP which came with a couple of the computers
we bought. Is this new enough to run this Runtime Program? Did the
database have to be set up a certain way to allow Runtime to work?
(the database was built well with a front end & back end system). Does
this runtime program cause stability issues (we have 6 users in total,
4 of which I would like to use the Runtime program with)?

2. I am building another database to account for some of the other
important information in the company. However, I would like to
reference information from this original database to avoid redundancy
in entering information for items such as customers and employees.
Someone on this forum has already been nice enough to tell me that
linking tables is the way to go, especially since I just want to
reference the information and not add any new information in the new
database. My question is if I am constantly referencing this
information and running queries with it, will this create a stability
issue?

Thanks in advance for any help,

John

 

[Ken Snell \(MVP\)]

Comments inline -

--

Ken Snell
<MS ACCESS MVP>

Hello All,

I just have a quick question. I work for a company with an existing
access database that they use for their Work Order system. They've
had it for about 6-7 years and the company who built it for them has
since folded their tent and we're kind of out in the cold with it. It
hasn't been an issue yet but we're updating our computer systems and I
am just wondering the following:

1. We would like to avoid buying copies of Access for many of the
computers. I have heard of this "runtime" program which is free and
will allow data entry personell to enter information. We have copies
of Office 2003 and Office XP which came with a couple of the computers
we bought. Is this new enough to run this Runtime Program? Did the
database have to be set up a certain way to allow Runtime to work?
(the database was built well with a front end & back end system). Does
this runtime program cause stability issues (we have 6 users in total,
4 of which I would like to use the Runtime program with)?

Runtime is not free for ACCESS 2003 or for ACCESS 2002 (XP). For 2003, you
must purchase Visual Studio Tools for Office program in order to get the
license that allows you to build / distribute runtime versions of ACCESS for
your application. For 2002, you would need the ACCESS 2002 Developer
Version. Because ACCESS 2007 is now the current version, you'll need to seek
out vendors who might have VSTO for 2003 or the ACCESS 2002 Developer
Version software.

What you have heard about "free" applies to the ACCESS 2007 Runtime
software, which is expected to be released sometime this year. However, you
cannot create a runtime with 2007 version and then use it with earlier
database versions. You'd need to purchase at least one copy of ACCESS 2007,
convert your databases to the 2007 version (note: conversion may introduce a
variety of issues that would need to be fixed; or it may convert the
databases just fine), and then you could use the ACCESS 2007 Runtime
software.

2. I am building another database to account for some of the other
important information in the company. However, I would like to
reference information from this original database to avoid redundancy
in entering information for items such as customers and employees.
Someone on this forum has already been nice enough to tell me that
linking tables is the way to go, especially since I just want to
reference the information and not add any new information in the new
database. My question is if I am constantly referencing this
information and running queries with it, will this create a stability
issue?

Linking to other databases is a common method for ACCESS and other
softwares. By itself, it doesn't create instability, especially if you're
just reading data. You must ensure that you're linking via "hard-wired"
connections (wireless and WAN accesses present potential interruptibility
problems that can lead to corrupted data if they occur while you're writing
/ editing data in the linked database) -- however, as you note above, you
just want to read the data, so corruptibility is not expected to be a
problem in this situation.

 

[Vladimír Cvajniga]

Pls, check out if you have Access in your MS Office. If you have Access you
don't have to purchase runtime.
If you have a distribution set (CD from where you can install "the
database") from "the company who built it for them" then you probably have
MS Access runtime as well.

Vlado

 

[J. Trucking]

Hi Ken,

Thanks for the response. How do you know if you have the "developer"
edition of Office XP. The operating system came with XP Pro... is
there a way to check and see if you have it (ie) the Tools Menu?

Thanks,

John

 

[Vladimír Cvajniga]

XP Pro (or any other MS Office Pro) should contain MS Access and thus you
don't have to purchase MS Access runtime. You can open "the database" from
MS Access.

HTH

Vlado

 

[Ken Snell \(MVP\)]

You must purchase Office XP Developer as a separate software. It is not part
of Office XP Professional or any other Office XP suite.