Missing/Inconsistent References

[jimbrooking]

I'm hoping someone can point me to a solution to the maddening problem of "fluid" References.

I have developed a database my Non-Profit organization intends to market. I have developed it in the Access 2000 component of Office 2000 Developer's Edition. I installed Office 2K "custom", adding things I expected to use as a developer, and unsuccessfully attempting to remove the obnoxious Office Assistant.

I have provided a copy of this database to others with Access 2000 installed, and SOME of them report compile errors, which I expect may be a result of my calling DLLs those users may not have. For example, I open a Word doc't for editing from within the DB. These can be corrected by recompiling the DB on the target machine, but I think this is asking a lot of the user base we anticipate.

I also had occasion to send a back-converted (to Access 97) version of the DB to a couple of guys for testing and demo purposes. One of them used it with no problems, but the other reported compile errors (Missing "Mid" function among them). I installed the Access 97 version on my old laptop, which runs Access 97, and sure enough got the compile errors.

On Access 97 I determined the "MISSING:" references, unchecked them, and checked what appeared to be earlier libraries (e.g., uncheck Word 8, check Word 7), and the compile ran OK.

I then converted the "corrected" Access 97 version to an MDE file and sent both the MDB and MDE versions to my two "victims" to try out. Don't know the results of this yet.

My problem is this: how in the world can I package a database that will reliably run on ANY installed Access version (97 or 2000) without generating these errors?

I am aware of the SageKey scripts, and am trying to get them to put together an Access 2000 runtime version, but even that seems to depend on the environment (works on Win2000 with Access 2000, not on Win95 with Access97).

Is there any definitive resource where the mysteries of missing references is explained, and a generic solution to this problem might be found?

Thanks for wading through this!

Jim

 

[jstutz]

Have you tried using the Package and Deployment Wizard included w/ Office 2K Dev Tools? I've used it only a couple of times with pretty good success, although I know some people have reservations about it. The package and deployment wiz might solve some of your missing ref probs.

As far as the 2000 & 97 compatibility problem, I've also experienced similar probs but have never really worked too hard on solving them. Instead, I have urged clients to upgrade to 2000 and when that's not feasible, I provide them with a copy of the Runtime version of Access 2k that also comes with the dev tools. It's royalty free and distributable. I think there's even an option in the Package and Deployment wiz to include a copy of Access RT when compiling the db setup files.

hth
js

 

[jimbrooking]

js-

Thanks for the advice. I have not looked at the MS wizard in the ODE.

FYI I also posted this in the "General" forum and had a couple of responses.

Thanks again.

Jim

[This message has been edited by jimbrooking (edited 09-19-2001).]

 

[The_Doc_Man]

This happens to my workgroup a lot, too. We are all on Office 97, so you'd think we should all be OK. But we ain't!

The issue is often due to differences in the way the Office package was installed - specifically with respect to "typical" vs. "custom" vs. "full" installs. The .DLL files you need are not always where you think they are. And Access looks for them through the registry, but it appears (I am guessing here) that the code to recognize the libraries isn't always reliable.

As to the differences between Access 97 and Access 2K, I can tell you at least the biggest culprit. It is the "compatibility" library. You have a DAO 2.5/3.5 library in Ac97 and DAO 3.6 on Ac2K. And these two compatibility libraries aren't compatible. Go figure.

I don't think I have ever found a solution either, except to make the libraries available in a separate directory and then put up a Help file or instruction on what to do if the problem occurs.

 

[jimbrooking]

Doc_Man,

I'm continuing to research this. I found the source of the Access 2K - to- Access 2K incompatibilities - I had been fooling around with the "Rich Text Format Control" from Micro$oft but quickly found that while it works on forms, it just doesn't print. (Another gotcha from Redmond!) So I deleted the forms and reports I'd been using to test, but the reference to the library stayed around. I unchecked that (over the phone with a guy who was having the problem), recompiled everything, and all was well.

On the 97-to-97 issue, the two libraries causing problens were DAO 3.6 and Word 9. In the 97 versions, I reselected Word 8 and DAO 2.5/3.5 and that got the 97 versions working. Now, when I go to cut a thousand CD-ROMs I still don't know what I'm going to do, but still looking.

And a note to JSTUTZ: I tried installing the wiz you suggested, and got tangled up in MS screens. Access' Add-In wizard couldn't find the Deployment Wizard. Sheeesh.

I'm out of town and out of touch until 10/1, but will check back then in case there are other helpful hints here.

Thanks to both of you!

Jim