J
Joe A
I have 10 years of development invested in an Access App which I sell by
allowing the public to download the msi from my web site. The App expires
after 30 days or they can buy it. I can not figure out how to deploy my App
now that Vista and Office 2007 exist on the public's PCs.
Currently the App is Access 2003 (mdb BE & mde FE) and the msi is created
using the MS Developer Extensions Packaging Wizard for Access 2003. The msi
creates a shortcut on the users desktop and installs Access 2003 runtime. If
the customer has Vista, the customer must right click the shortcut that is
installed on their desktop and select "Run as Administrator" in order for the
app to run without errors. (The mde FE is installed in the users C:\Program
Files folder with is read only in Vista.) New users don't know to do this so
they don't buy my App. Obvious problem. The 2003 Packaging Wizard can not
install the App into the users profile.
I thought Access 2007 was the answer to my problem! The Access 2007
Packaging Wizard CAN install to the Users Profile/Documents folder which
solves the above problem. A New user can double click the desktop shortcut
without problems. Thus I now work on my FE.mdb in Access 2007 and create an
mde file. I package the mde file with the Access 2007 Packaging Wizard to
create an msi which includes the Access 2007 runtime. Works fine but here's
the remaining problem...
1) Many potential clients have Office 2003 (or earlier) on their PCs. When
they switch between running my App (Acesss 2007 runtime) and their older
office programs, the installer has to run (takes forever) and sometimes gives
errors.
2) KB 928091 discusses issues if multiple versions of office are on the same
PC. I can not control the order that Offices are installed nor can I control
the automatic updating of these versions.
Can anyone help? How do I install my Access App on any PC regardless of OS
or version of office, and have a clean running App without user or IT
intervention? I feel boxed in a corner and ready to throw away my business
and 10 years of development work. Please help if you can.
allowing the public to download the msi from my web site. The App expires
after 30 days or they can buy it. I can not figure out how to deploy my App
now that Vista and Office 2007 exist on the public's PCs.
Currently the App is Access 2003 (mdb BE & mde FE) and the msi is created
using the MS Developer Extensions Packaging Wizard for Access 2003. The msi
creates a shortcut on the users desktop and installs Access 2003 runtime. If
the customer has Vista, the customer must right click the shortcut that is
installed on their desktop and select "Run as Administrator" in order for the
app to run without errors. (The mde FE is installed in the users C:\Program
Files folder with is read only in Vista.) New users don't know to do this so
they don't buy my App. Obvious problem. The 2003 Packaging Wizard can not
install the App into the users profile.
I thought Access 2007 was the answer to my problem! The Access 2007
Packaging Wizard CAN install to the Users Profile/Documents folder which
solves the above problem. A New user can double click the desktop shortcut
without problems. Thus I now work on my FE.mdb in Access 2007 and create an
mde file. I package the mde file with the Access 2007 Packaging Wizard to
create an msi which includes the Access 2007 runtime. Works fine but here's
the remaining problem...
1) Many potential clients have Office 2003 (or earlier) on their PCs. When
they switch between running my App (Acesss 2007 runtime) and their older
office programs, the installer has to run (takes forever) and sometimes gives
errors.
2) KB 928091 discusses issues if multiple versions of office are on the same
PC. I can not control the order that Offices are installed nor can I control
the automatic updating of these versions.
Can anyone help? How do I install my Access App on any PC regardless of OS
or version of office, and have a clean running App without user or IT
intervention? I feel boxed in a corner and ready to throw away my business
and 10 years of development work. Please help if you can.