R
Ralf Hermanns
Hello.
I am sure this problem has come up a thousand times, but googling gave no
real good answer that solved the behaviour I encounter.
My Goals are:
- Distribute an Access application as MDE.
- Leave the reports in an external file, so they can be changed/customized.
Here's what I did so far:
- In the main app, I wrote a sub that exports the linked tables to the
report, so that the reports have the right tables in their file to pull data
from.
- In the report-file I created a module, with a Public Sub that opens the
report requested.
- I added a reference in the main app to the report-file, so the Sub can be
called.
This solutions works quite fine, as long as you do not switch to MDEs.
Here are my problems with MDEs:
- If the main app is MDE, the report-file collection needs to be MDE as
well - thats ok with me
- By adding the reference, you "fix" the path where the report-file is
looked for. I'd like it not to be fixed - any way to change a reference in
runtime?
* If you make a change in the report-file, and recompile it (or just
recompile the same file, no change needed to break it...), the main app does
not recognize the reference anymore. You have to recompile the main file
also to make it work again.
* If you make changes in the main file, you have to recompile with each
clients' report-file referenced, before you can ship out the update. If you
have several clients, you have to repeat that step for every client, each
one gets a special version with "his" report-file referenced.
You will agree that the issues marked with * are not acceptable... Any idea
what I can do / should do?
Please note that all mentioned above works fine with MDEs, just updating
this construction will be a major pain in the a***.
Updating with MDBs is not a problem, since the files can be exchanged
without any hassle - but I do not want to ship the application as MDB.
Thanks a lot!
Ralf
Systeminfo, if needed (I guess not, but here it is):
For development, I am using Access2002 SP2, with Office XP Developer SP1
installed on WinXP SP1.
The software will run on clients in an Access2002 Runtime under Win98,
Win2000 or WinXP.
I always make sure that the latest MDAC and Jet drivers are available on
clients.
I am sure this problem has come up a thousand times, but googling gave no
real good answer that solved the behaviour I encounter.
My Goals are:
- Distribute an Access application as MDE.
- Leave the reports in an external file, so they can be changed/customized.
Here's what I did so far:
- In the main app, I wrote a sub that exports the linked tables to the
report, so that the reports have the right tables in their file to pull data
from.
- In the report-file I created a module, with a Public Sub that opens the
report requested.
- I added a reference in the main app to the report-file, so the Sub can be
called.
This solutions works quite fine, as long as you do not switch to MDEs.
Here are my problems with MDEs:
- If the main app is MDE, the report-file collection needs to be MDE as
well - thats ok with me
- By adding the reference, you "fix" the path where the report-file is
looked for. I'd like it not to be fixed - any way to change a reference in
runtime?
* If you make a change in the report-file, and recompile it (or just
recompile the same file, no change needed to break it...), the main app does
not recognize the reference anymore. You have to recompile the main file
also to make it work again.
* If you make changes in the main file, you have to recompile with each
clients' report-file referenced, before you can ship out the update. If you
have several clients, you have to repeat that step for every client, each
one gets a special version with "his" report-file referenced.
You will agree that the issues marked with * are not acceptable... Any idea
what I can do / should do?
Please note that all mentioned above works fine with MDEs, just updating
this construction will be a major pain in the a***.
Updating with MDBs is not a problem, since the files can be exchanged
without any hassle - but I do not want to ship the application as MDB.
Thanks a lot!
Ralf
Systeminfo, if needed (I guess not, but here it is):
For development, I am using Access2002 SP2, with Office XP Developer SP1
installed on WinXP SP1.
The software will run on clients in an Access2002 Runtime under Win98,
Win2000 or WinXP.
I always make sure that the latest MDAC and Jet drivers are available on
clients.