Access 2003 vs 2010

[CanWest]

Hello everyone. I have been developing databases in an Access 2003 environment for a very long time now. The problem I am now encountering is people have access 2007 or 2010 and for my databases to work I have to uninstall their version of access and install 2003.

My question is on how to proceed from here. Should I install the runtime version of 2003 instead and if so can I leave their version of Access installed. Or should I convert my databases to Access 2007 or 2010

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

 

[bob fitz]

people have access 2007 or 2010 and for my databases to work I have to uninstall their version of access and install 2003

AFAIK a 2003 db should work with 2007 and 2010

 

[David R]

At some point you're going to have to upgrade your development environment. As bob says, they SHOULD work in compatibility mode, but you're almost 10 years out of date already... it will begin to impact your client base and marketability eventually if you force THEM to downgrade (especially on a non-cheap program like Access).

 

[bob fitz]

David R

How will the OP be forcing THEM to downgrade. Surely anything created with A2003 will work with A2007 and A2010?

 

[David R]

He already said in the original post: "for my databases to work I have to uninstall their version of access and install 2003."

Probably what's actually going on is some sort of dependency/references problem, but the fact remains that he's disadvantaging himself to any competitor who is actually using the current tech.

 

[Lightwave]

I develop in 2003 and port forward.

I don't create any custom menus which seems to be the main stumbling point for porting forward.

I don't think it would really be a long term solution to ask customers to downgrade there access versions (although 2003 is very good)

 

[boblarson]

The problem I am now encountering is people have access 2007 or 2010 and for my databases to work I have to uninstall their version of access and install 2003.

Then there is something wrong with either the way you are sending them or setting them up because 2007, 2010, and 2013 will work with 2003 databases. I know that for a fact. So, the key is trying to figure out what YOU are doing wrong which makes it so that they need to do this.

Are you using any ActiveX controls like the Calendar control? That can be a problem because MS deprecated it. So you would need to use a NON ActiveX calendar control (we have many here in the sample databases area). That could be one of the issues.

 

[JohnPapa]

I have a commercial application under 2003. I use the runtime and specific software for installing the runtime and have no problem in any of the Windows versions. It does not use Access, if it is installed on the local PC.

If the application requires a locally installed Access and runs with this, then you will eventually run into problems because you will need to support several versions of Access.

Although I have no problem running my Access 2003 application I am in the process of converting to Access 2013, expecting the runtime from MS to be available in a couple of months.

 

[CanWest]

So I made a quick test and discovered that some of my code is considered unsafe and the only way for i to run was to set the macro security to low.

The only problem is it gave me no indication as to what part of my code is unsafe. ANd even after turning the macro security to low i could not get to the properties of most of the controls on my forms

 

[Beetle]

In Access 07 and 10 you need to use Trusted Locations, not Macro Security (i.e. the database needs to be in a trusted folder). In A2010 this is found under Options / Trust Center / Trust Center Settings / Trusted Locations (should be similar for A2007). You can add new locations from here if necessary.

 

[CanWest]

In Access 07 and 10 you need to use Trusted Locations, not Macro Security (i.e. the database needs to be in a trusted folder). In A2010 this is found under Options / Trust Center / Trust Center Settings / Trusted Locations (should be similar for A2007). You can add new locations from here if necessary.

That worked perfectly. Now I just have my other problem.

My db loads ok but if I open a form in design view I can not get to the properties of any of my controls or fields. I right click on them, properties is an option (not greyed out) so I click on properties and nothing.

Not sure what is going on here