Only have the .accde file for our database

[intermentals]

We bought a database for our small business from a programmer friend of a friend - however since deploying it system-wwide the programmer has come back and said that he has "lost the source code". The problem that we are now faced with is that we can only recover the tables, queries, forms and macros through decompiling whilst the modules remain compiled and inaccessable. Research on the internet has thus far proved fruitless, can anyone please help?

 

[intermentals]

"Ah.... Read this as "We didn't pay the programmer" now we are in the shit...."

ah read this as I'm a smug smart arse and I enjoy wasting my abundance of spare time chatting crap regarding stuff I have no clue about - and incidentally if you use quotation marks when you're presenting a hypothetical quote then you should use them for the whole quote and not just the first bit

actually the programmer is a friend of mine and he got paid handsomely - this database was designed for another company and he made it bespoke for us and then lost the password (he insists on using unique passwords for everything) for the accdb file

he's now gone back to uni to continue his veterinary course and can't complete/rewrite the project leaving us a bit screwed

 

[DCrake]

So have you lost the accdb or the password to the accdb?

if the latter then you are not in it as deep as you think.

Which is it?


And if he was paid handsomely then he should have provided you with the password along with the source code for safe keeping. How did it get lost?

David

 

[intermentals]

the password to the encrypted drive (the data is stored across 6 disks in a raid array) and also the accdb file

 

[intermentals]

oh and the operating system of the server is openBSD 4.5...

 

[DCrake]

So to get this right

You have the accde
You do not have the accdb
You do not know the password to the encrypted drive
The accde is linked to an accdb on an encrypted protected drive

Whose drive is it?

Surely if it is your network you should have the credentials.

Does the accde give you the opportunity to make backups?
Are you saying you cannot get to the data?

 

[intermentals]

it's his server and apparently he doesn't want to jeopardise it by trying to break in as it has .conf files that are maintaining some vital services

incidentally we also have begun to suspect (having spoken with another database programmer) that he wants to keep the source code private so that he has exclusivity when it comes to selling the finished product customised as it now is for the tele-sales industry even though it was originally agreed that we would own the rights for the new code (we naively didn't draw up a contract as he was introduced through a friend)

I don't think the accde file gives the option to make back-ups itself although he did write us a shell script to rollback to previous back-ups in the event of a crash so something backs it up

we have access to the data however the modules themselves are not viewable

 

[DCrake]

It seems to me that you have not looked at the long term aspect of the setup. What happens if this chappy goes out of business or his server falls over? Have you got any congingency plans? Does disaster recovery protocol ring a bell?

You also need to ask yourself why do you need the modules? are you going to take over the development of the product in-house? What product support did he offer you?

You also need to be thinking about interlectual property rights as well. Are you entitled to the code?

David

 

[intermentals]

We're having the databse rewritten in MySQL for our own purposes and have learnt many lessons from the experience that have ensured that we approach this latest contract vastly differently - however we would like to sell the original code for the access database as we have had some interest in it - if we can acquire the source code the programmer will sign over the rights legally but we get the impression he's being obstructive over supplying it himself now that he's seen the opportunity to make some more money from it, however that is purely speculation

 

[DCrake]

It looks like you will need to look at reverse engineering to re create the source code if you cannot obtain it from the author.

David

 

[dbDamo]

I would be very careful trying to sell the programmers source code - he clearly does not want to give it to you. I do not know any programmers who do not keep their work backed up somewhere.

I would agree that he is being obstructive - he sees an opportunity to make more cash and without a contract saying you own the source code I would suggest that you give up now and pay someone else to develop a system for you. Should you be able to get at the source code, what is to stop him from then saying he won't sign it over?

 

[editolis]

I Suggest you to hire Uncle Gizmo. Is one of the TOP developers on this forum.

 

[intermentals]

thanks for all the help guys - we've managed to get an earlier version of the accdb file because it was written on my friends laptop originally so we're going to rewrite the missing bits using that as a base