standalone?

[Bart Pauwels]

Can an access-database work without the program access itself?

I mean: can a database be self-executing?

F.e.: Somenone with a cheap (or older) computer in the firm or in your
circle of friends wants to use your database but can't run the appropriate
access-version or don't run microsoft at all...
Is there something to do to make an excisting, working and fail-proof
database work on its own?

 

[Van T. Dinh]

No. An Access database ALWAYS needs MSAccess.exe to run. This can be the
full version or the run-time version.

If you have the Developer version of Office, you can create an installation
package that can install the run-time files royalty-free with your database
on the target PC. Of course, Access (and most other software) won't work on
old OS, e.g. Access2002 needs NT4 SP6, Windows898 or later.

 

[Rick Brandt]

Can an access-database work without the program access itself?

I mean: can a database be self-executing?

F.e.: Somenone with a cheap (or older) computer in the firm or in your
circle of friends wants to use your database but can't run the appropriate
access-version or don't run microsoft at all...
Is there something to do to make an excisting, working and fail-proof
database work on its own?

No. To run an Access file the PC needs Access installed. This can be either
the licensed (retail) version or the Runtime which can be distributed
royalty-free with your file if you own the Developer's Edition of Office. The
runtime (being nothing more than Access without design capabilities) requires
the same minimum system requirements as the retail version.

 

[John Nurick]

Hi Bart,

As far as Access database applications (i.e. with data, forms, queries,
etc.) are concerned, the answer is no. It's always necessary to have
Access installed. There are special run-time versions of Access
(supplied with the Developer Edition of each version of Office) that can
be distributed freely, but they have exactly the same requirements as
the standard version in terms of hardware and operating system.

Other Office applications - Word and Excel in particular - can however
extract *data* from an MDB file (and many other data sources): Word's
mailmerge and database field, and Excel's Data|Import system.

 

[Bart Pauwels]

OK,

So, the main question for me was: do others need to have Office installed
the be able to run an .mdb?

Answer would be: no, if you can have a run-time version of access inserted
also...

Is this correct or not?

I need to know in order to spread my forthcoming database around... Or they
need to get better PCs with office on (rather expensive)
Or they can work on their familiar machine using the run-time version of
Access to run and use my database (they don't need to make changes!!!

 

[Rick Brandt]

OK,

So, the main question for me was: do others need to have Office installed
the be able to run an .mdb?

Answer would be: no, if you can have a run-time version of access inserted
also...

Is this correct or not?

I need to know in order to spread my forthcoming database around... Or they
need to get better PCs with office on (rather expensive)
Or they can work on their familiar machine using the run-time version of
Access to run and use my database (they don't need to make changes!!!

The answer is that if their PCs aren't good enough to run Office then they are
not good enough to run Access. Whether you are talking about the Runtime or the
licensed version makes no difference.

If you want to use the Runtime to avoid buying licensed versions of
Office/Access then you can do so, but unless you will be distributing to at
least "several" PCs you would not save anything over buying retail Access for
each PC since the Developer's Edition is more expensive. That's assuming you
can even get the Developer's Edition for the version of Access you are using.
The usual retail outlets will only have the latest version and for Access 2003
that means buying Visual Studio with the Access Developer's Extensions. Older
versions of Office Developer might be available on the internet though.