Installing Access App

[MightyAC]

I have an application built in Access 07 that I need to install. The installer included with the Access 07 developer extensions is not flexible enough to allow me to install the application properly. To be more specific my application has multiple pieces that each require shortcuts and I need to install and the installer only allows me to build one. I would also like to install the application to a different root location than the installer allows. Finally I need to install and register various dlls to locations other than the root of the application. I tried modifying the installer without too much success so I've moved on to using the Visual Studio 2008 installer.

I can get the VS 08 installer to install the Access 07 runtime, install my app to the appropriate location and install and register my .dlls. However, I cannot build a shortcut that launches my application while specifying the Access 07 runtime. For example I want the target of the shortcut to be. "[Path To Access 07 Runtime]" "[Path to Access Application]" /wrkgrp "[Path to workgroup file]" /Runtime.

Any ideas on how I build these shortcuts in the VS 08 installer?

 

[MightyAC]

For now I am building a small VB App to create the shortcuts I need during the install. It should work, though there must be a better way.

If anyone has created a working Access shortcut using Visual Studio built deployment package please let me know.

Thanks...

 

[Atomic Shrimp]

What about creating individual installers for each of the application components, then trying to find a way to launch the installers in sequence?


Just out of interest... what is your rationale for having an application in multiple pieces like that? (feel free to tell me to mind my own business - I'm not questioning your design, just curious)

 

[MightyAC]

The solution I'm installing just happens to contain multiple applications.

The problem I have is creating shortcuts, be it for 1 app or for multiple apps.

The Access Deployment Package builder doesn't allow me to install the application where I need it to go and it only allows me to install dependencies off of the root folder.

So I've been trying to use the VS 2008 install package builder. It allows me to install everything I need including the Access 07 runtime, but I can't get the shortcuts to work correctly.

 

[MightyAC]

Thanks for the suggestion. Using the VS 08 deployment package builder I can do everything I need except build the appropriate Access shortcuts. There is a way to build the shortcuts I just can't figure it out.

We have now written our own shortcut builder that is called by the installer, accepts all appropriate paramenters like install location, shortcut location, icons, etc and is imperceptible to the user. I'm a little annoyed that I couldn't figure our how to do it properly as it is likely obvious once solved...but the BandAid works fine so I'm not going to invest anymore time into it.