Auto FE Updater Help

[jwleonard]

I am using the Auto FE Updater to update the FE's of my database over a LAN. The utility is setup and working normally for the most part, but I have one little issue that I can't seem to find any info on anywhere.

There are two groups of users that are only separated administratively (not geographically), they are in the same building. One set has their drive containing the database FE & BE mapped by a logon script; the other group must map the drive manually. The problem is with the second group; they can't map the drive to the same drive letter because they have another drive automatically mapped to that letter in their logon script. Plus since they are doing their own mapping, they don't map to the same letter amongst themselves. I am using a shortcut to the StartMDB.exe on the network drive (the shortcut is in a separate folder from the actual executable). I am using UNC everywhere possible but when the shortcut is put on the desktops of the second group it still points to the drive letter of the first group. If I try to change the shortcut to UNC it always reverts back to the letter it is mapped to.

I am trying to make a .cmd file so I can use UNC there but can't get it to work. Does anyone have a .cmd file that starts an exe and points to an ini file as would be needed by Auto FE Updater? If so could you post a copy of it so I can see what I am doing wrong? Also, does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[Guus2005]

Use a local (FE)login table to restore the actual path to the BE using drive letters.

also you could try:

Use the "Net Use" command to change the drive mapping to a different (free) letter for both groups.

 

[Fear Naught]

What is the "Auto FE Updater" ??

 

[boblarson]

What is the "Auto FE Updater" ??

They might be talking about my utility that enables "auto-updating" of front-ends so that when you make a change to the master, you can change the version number in the front-end file and then the next time the user opens their front-end on their computer, it will give them a message that their front-end is out of date, it deletes the old file, copies the new file to their machine, and then reopens it for them, that is available here.
http://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=111132

There are others out there too, so they may not be talking about this one.

I think you can modify things to use Guus2005's suggestion about including the NET USE command to assign a drive letter that can be used.

I know that I haven't run into this scenario before myself so I didn't really account for it in the tool.

 

[jwleonard]

I am actually using the one by Tony Toews; available here http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/autofe.htm.

Guus2005, the actual database works correctly; I have used UNC paths in the linked table manager. The problem is getting a shortcut to the executable and ini file for the front end updater. In a shortcut it replaces the UNC with a drive letter, what I think I need is a .cmd that does the same thing as the shortcut. It starts the updater exe file with the target ini file and I just can't get my syntax correct to do it from a .cmd.

Changing drive letters isn't an option, I am not an admin and it is a very secure and established network; they won't let me mess around with it like that. Thanks for the info though.

 

[jwleonard]

I was able to figure this out, here it is for anyone that runs into this problem.

ECHO OFF
START \\ServerName\"Directory Name"\StartMDB.exe /cmd /inifile: "\\ServerName\Directory Name\Yourinifile.ini"

This is all one line of code and goes in a .cmd file. The first part tells it to start StartMDB.exe; in that section you must put quotes around any directory with a space. The second part tells StartMDB.exe which ini file to use; this entire section is in quotes so you don't need any around spaces. The quotes where kicking my butt!

Now no matter what driver letter someone uses they get a shorcut on their desktop based on the UNC path instead of a drive letter. It works perfectly!