Access 97 run time installer? (1 Viewer)

Hello,
I have a roof-estimating program that I made in MS access 97. I want to sell it to online. However the buyer will have to have access 97 installed on their computer to be able to use my program. Is there a way to allow users to use my program with out them having access 97 installed on there computer? And if so how involved is it to make this work?

I’ve been reading about the access developer’s extensions for access that makes a run time version of an access program. Will this work in my situation. I’m using access 97. I've seen some web sites with run time installers. Do these programs really work like they say?

Will I need to re-write my program? And if I do need to re-write it, is there a certain way that it needs to be written in order for this to work.

Please Help

Thanks Chuck patentinv@sbcglobal.net

You would need to buy the developers edition for Office [Access] 97 to be able to legally install the runtime version of Access onto a computer that does not have the version of Access that your db is designed in already installed on their computer. The only place you will be able to buy the developers edition is online like at Ebay. Be carefull to ensure that you do not get ripped off. The only re-write that you will have to do is to ensure that all of your functions and subs have decent error trapping for a runtime db will shut down if the user gets a runtime error from your db. You can easily upgrade your db to a newer version of Access if you have to buy a newer version of the developers edition. There are no legal versions of a runtime "download" that you might see somebody trying to sell. The Access 2003 version is called the developers extensions, the older versions are called the developers edition.

Hi.
I opend the Add-In- Manager and i didn't see the "Wizard package and deployment"
I had office 2003.
How can i launch this option.

Thak you.

You need to buy and install the Visual Studio 2005 Professional Editions [developers extensions package for Office 2003]. It costs $800 US dollars.

Visual Studio 2005 Professional Editions

Build with Access 2003 Developer Extensions

This has to be a record - three times for the same answer in a half hour.

Here's the link to the extensions page - http://msdn.microsoft.com/howtobuy/vsto/default.aspx

It is $199 if you are upgrading and $499 if you are not. If you are elegible for the student price (you need to do more searching), it is around $110.

This product comes with vb.net basic in the box so you don't need to buy a full version of VS unless you want to.

I’ve been reading about the access developer’s extensions for access that makes a run time version of an access program.

Click to expand...

You need to read more closely. Your application is NOT changed. You are simply given a license to distribute the MSAccess.exe runtime version itself and the package and deployment wizard to put the whole thing together so you can distribute it.

You really need to convert your application to a newer version of Access. Installing an older version of Access on a PC invariably leads to problems. You are better off buying A2003 or at least AXP.

The Access runtime has some limitations. As was already mentioned, you MUST add error trapping to EVERY procedure and since macros do not support error trapping, you MUST get rid of all macros. You will also need to make your own custom menus because many things that your users will need - file/print for example - will not be available unless you add it to your custom menus.

Thanks for the help,
It appears that the Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System has the Access developer extensions section clicked. Please tell if I'm wrong. This would be a lot less expensive route, compared to the Visual Studio 2005 Professional with MSDN Premium Subscription.

Visual Studio 2005 Professional Editions

You mentioned I will need to have decent error trapping for all functions and subs for a runtime db, I'm not sure what that means, or how to accomplish that?

I think my best strategy would be to re-write the db in access 2003, which I don't have however I do have access 2000, Do you think access 2000 would be ok, If not I'll have to purchase access 2003. Along with the Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System, I hope this version works.

You mentioned to legally install my runtime db version: You would need to buy the developers edition for Office [Access] 97 to be able to legally install the runtime version of Access onto a computer that does not have the version of Access that your db is designed in.

What if the computer that I'm installing my runtime version db onto does not have access installed, not any versions? Will this this runtime version db install and run correctly?

Thank You.

There is no runtime version of your application. The runtime that everyone talks about is actually MSAccess.exe. This is the actual Microsoft Access product. The difference is that when it is installed as the "runtime" version, it will only open existing Access applications. You cannot get to the design view with it so you cannot create or modify any database objects.

The package and deployment wizard takes your .mdb or .mde along with their .mdw and any other necessary files and packages them with the Access "runtime" (if necessary) and creates a self - extracting executable that runs the Microsoft Installer to install your application and MS Access as a runtime version on the client PC.

The product I purchased was the $499 package since I have no need for a full Visual Studio installation.

A2K is a better choice than A97.

If you are a developer, you might consider purchasing the Action Pack. The first year cost is $299. It includes 10 licenses for Office Pro, plus 10 licenses for Win XP and various other products such as VISIO, PROJECT, OneNote, etc. It also includes a bunch of server software including SQL Server. Subsequent years the price drops to $199. The deal is that you are supposed to use the software for development only. If you qualify, it is a great way to keep all your test machines up to date as far as software goes.

The Action Pack does not include the Office Tools product so you would still need to buy that but given that Access alone costs $199, this would seem to be a pretty good deal.