Runtime Access

[Martin Wright]

I've built a piece of Golf software in Access 2000 which I
plan to sell (using Runtime Access to deploy - I don't
want to state "Microsoft Access"
as a minimum requirement!). However, I have two
questions...

1) How stable is RunTime Access? Will many of my
customers have problems installing/trying to run the
program through Runtime Access?

2) Is there anyway I can get the program to check (on
load?) if the CD the software comes on, is in the CD drive
when the program runs (as a form of security)?

Many thanks for any help you can give!

 

[Cheryl Fischer]

IMO, Access databases installed as runtime applications work very well in
controlled environments; i.e., small (or large) offices where a fairly high
degree of standardization has been applied to the Windows version installed,
Office version installed (if any), other software, etc. Many developers
looking at the potential user base that you describe would recommend
creating your runtime installation with either Wise Installer or
InstallShield, in conjunction with SageKey ( http://www.sagekey.com ).

You might want to browse the two Access newsgroups devoted to this area:

microsoft.public.access.developers.toolkitode
or
microsoft.public.access.devtoolkits

 

[Martin Wright]

Many thanks Cheryl,

Would SageKey with MSI also be a viable option?

Also, would any of these installation packages allow me to
force the user to havethe CD in the drive in order to run
the software?

-----Original Message-----
IMO, Access databases installed as runtime applications work very well in
controlled environments; i.e., small (or large) offices where a fairly high
degree of standardization has been applied to the Windows version installed,
Office version installed (if any), other software, etc. Many developers
looking at the potential user base that you describe would recommend
creating your runtime installation with either Wise Installer or
InstallShield, in conjunction with SageKey (

http://www.sagekey.com ).

 

[Cheryl Fischer]

AFAIK, Sagekey does offer MSI support and scripts/templates. Check out
their website.

As far as your second question is concerned, I do not see this as an
installation/setup issue - more of a security/usage one. Seems to me that
you would need some VBA code in your application to find the CD-ROM drive(s)
and then, once found, use the Dir() function to find specific files on the
CD. However, CDs can be copied ...

Code to enumerate drives can be found at the Access Web:

http://www.mvps.org/access/api/api0003.htm

 

[Martin Wright]

Many thanks again Cheryl, you're a star!!

You're right about the CD copying security issue, but -
apart from a registration code and forcing the user to
have a copy of the software on CD, I don't really know
what else I can do. Isn't this the extent to which even
games companies go to? If they can't find a solution, I
guess there's no point in me trying to re-invent the wheel
(as it were).

 

[Cheryl Fischer]

Here is a link to some comments by MVP Tony Toews on the subject of demo and
application security. It's worth a read and you may get some additional
ideas.

http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/demo.htm