How do yo create an 'auto-update' for your front-end?

[kelly draper via AccessMonster.com]

I've got an app. distributed in an office. I'm constantly updating the
front end with new features (partly because I just cant leave it alone, and
partly because management had me distro. it to early. It was still kinda
beta and they said 'looks good! put it on everybodies machine...now.)
everybodies getting a little tired of me going around every other week and
saying i need to download them a new copy off our shared network drive. I
cant distro. via email cuz IT decided .MDB's are security threats. ..(?)..
and has thus blocked them from being attachments. so I'm thinking some
programs out there have a feature that pops up and says 'a new version is
available for download. click here to update.' I thought that'd be the
ticket to do my front end updates. I was thinking a back-end table with an
'updates available' yes/no field that the front end checks on startup. but
do i have to code some sort of copy and paste file routine,does the user
get prompted to overwrite existing file, do I do an import(which didnt seem
to logical), really i'm just kinda stumped as to how it would go. I cant
just send an email telling everybody to go and copy and paste themselves
cuz 1, half of them wouldnt do it, and 2, the other half wouldnt know how.
has anybody else done an auto-update for their front-end. if so how did you
do it.
Thanks
Kelly.

 

[Jesper Fjølner]

Your're in luck since Tony Toews created this beauty that does the front-end
updating for you excactly as you're asking:
http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/autofe.htm
I'm using it in an office with 20 machines and it works great.

 

[kelly draper via AccessMonster.com]

sweet. thank you. this looks like just the ticket

 

[kelly draper via AccessMonster.com]

Man that updater works good. It just simply does it's job and calls it
done. cudo's to the author.
all's I had to do is incorporate a version number into my front end and
write a bit of code to compare the version number of the users version
number against the version number of the front end on our shared drive and
if theyre different, shut down the front end and call that front end
updater program and it does the rest. very nice indeed.