Programatically Installing Add-In's within Access

[sixHat]

@HiTechCoach Your right... previously I had tried to host .exe's in which showed that issue... I thought it would do that to any type of application but apparently the .mda file extension is exempt? Anyway I've managed to post the download on my site under the Works tab at: www.sixhatsolutions.com#works

As I've just put it there like a half hour ago you may need to refresh your browser to see it. Check it out and feel free to host on your site as well if you wish.

 

[sixHat]

@HiTechCoach After getting feedback for the initial release of the Link Master I went back to the drawing board and completely ditched the .udl file method. The previous version of the Link Master was never recommended for use "As Is" with SQL Authentication because of the use of .udl files which store credentials in plain text. As a result I had only tested the Link Master in Windows Authenticated environments… though I had coded it for SQL Authentication. It turns out extracting passwords from .udl files was too problematic… and really, because of the plain text nature I decided to ditch that method.

This version of the Link Master is really such a big change from the first that it has bumped a full version so this is now Link Master 2.0. It provides a bug fix with the module deployment earlier mentioned, and further stores SQL Authentication credentials should the user choose to do so.

I hope you get a chance to check out the new and much improved version of the Link Master available here: http://www.sixhatsolutions.com/link-master.html

 

[speakers_86]

Maybe I'm not getting something, but I don't understand what you're having trouble with. I've created managed addins in Visual Studio, and VS creates an installer. All I have to do is open it and click next three times and it is ready to go. Why do you need to automate that? My site is in my signature if you want to see my addins. The source code isn't there yet, but I don't have an issue adding that if you want to see how it works.

 

[sixHat]

@speakers_86 Yes, that's the difference. This Add-In is a "Unmanaged" Add-In.

 

[speakers_86]

Were you not able to make a managed version of this?

 

[speakers_86]

So this addin is an mda file that you currently access using the addin drop down? What part is unmanaged?

What I did was create the mda and then I wrote managed code that modifies the ribbon to give me my user interface for my mda. I don't need to use the addin drop down at all. Does that help you? The managed code simply passes commands between the ribbon buttons and the mda.

 

[sixHat]

@speakers_86 I do plan on doing a managed add-in some day... but really for this project it was unnecessary as Access could just as easily handle what I needed. I would gain no benefit going the .Net route for an Add-In. And as I've never created a Managed Add-In before the development time was much quicker.

 

[speakers_86]

So when you say unmanaged, you're not talking about C, you're talking about the mda file itself? It sounds like you could do the same thing I did and write a managed addin to install the mde and provide a custom ribbon interface.

Edit-When I say install, I really mean placing the mde in a particular place in the folder system. When the user clicks on the interface in the ribbon, the managed code adds a reference to the mde and sends the command to the mde. After all of this is done, the reference is removed. The mde still doesn't appear in the addin drop down, but it doesn't have to.